The World is a Vampire
by Rebelina11
Summary: The FotS took things too far & the vampires had enough. The vampires retaliated & now the U.S. belongs to all the supernatural creatures that the FotS targeted. An unlikely hero will rise & save the innocents caught in the fray. Rated M for adult themes.
1. Preface

**The Fellowship of the Sun took things too far and the vampires had enough. When the whole race retaliated, many innocents were caught in the crossfire. Now the United States belongs to the vampires and supernatural creatures that the Fellowship targeted.**

I don't own the SVM characters. They're only keeping me busy.

A/N: There will be several POV's throughout the story, but only one per chapter. I probably won't announce who's talking because it will be obvious… or if I want to keep the suspense.

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_**THE WORLD IS A VAMPIRE**_

**PREFACE**

The woman in my arms was dying. I could hear her heart skipping beats, or else hesitating, so I ran faster. The cover of trees was all I needed. I was nothing but a ghost, a ghost on a mission. It sounded trite, but it was the truth. I had not survived a thousand years by torturing and killing my food source.

At that moment my food source was dying. "Stay with me, please. Stay with me," I said under my breath. Her heart stopped for five whole seconds before it picked up again. I had to stop and now was the time. She would not last any longer. I took cover inside a hedge under the darkness of the forest, and listened to the night while I ministered to the small woman.

With the blade I always carried I slashed my neck and guided her lips to the wound. It was the only way to make her drink: a maker exchange. I could only hope that she would remain human, but she had lost too much blood. Her turning was a possibility that I did not take lightly. I was willing to be her maker, but would she be willing to be my child? I could not know.

She drank. The magic had worked and she took her fill. I licked the wounds on her body, the ones I could reach. Her blood was the sweetest human blood I'd ever tasted. It reminded me of fairy blood, without sending me into a frenzy of lust. When my wounds closed she became limp, but her heart was beating steadily, if slowly. It would have to do.

Her eyes opened and I could feel her fear. My blood in her veins was my link. "I won't harm you. I just saved your life," I said, willing her to believe me, to trust me. She would have to remain by my side from now on and I did not want her to be scared.

"I know you," she whispered, her blue eyes widening in recognition. Yes, she knew me. She must have thought I had been there to purchase her.

"What is your name?" I asked, tucking her hair behind her ears. She was beautiful and mine to protect from that moment on.

"Sookie Stackhouse," she swallowed.

"I am Eric the North Man. We have to move. Are you ready?" Sookie nodded and closed her eyes in pain as I picked her up. "Keep your eyes closed, Sookie. It will soon be over."

I kept running through the night, as fast as my strength could carry me. The weight of the woman did not slow me down, but her pain concerned me. I would not let her suffer anymore. That was my only comfort.

**TBC**

**A/N: What do y'all think? Should I keep going with the actual story? Do y'all want to know how Sookie got in trouble and how Eric came to save her?**


	2. Life's Little Ledge

**A/N: **OMG! I could not believe the overwhelming response to the tiny snippet I put out for this story. I loved seeing so many of my "regulars" (y'all know who you are) as well as the new people who alerted the story. Some of you favorited it and I haven't even started! That just warms my heart… and puts me in an unbelievably tough spot! Holy cow! I have to deliver now, don't I? Well, here goes…

Oh… and no Bill-bashing which is very unlike me, I know. But he's central to the story, in a way. Let's remember Bill in his better moments, K?

P.S.: I'm adding just a couple of words strategically to make this chapter flow better. I understand there was some confusion with the timeline from what Sookie was doing in the present, to her memories, and then back to the present. Hopefully it's a bit clearer now. But, as always, reviews are the only way I know if something isn't clear, so please review if you find that is the case. Y'all are my editors. I don't use a Beta because I'm pretty sure a Beta would fire me...

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**LIFE'S LITTLE LEDGE**

_For the imagination of some men is so vivid that they think they see actual figures and appearances which are but the reflection of their thoughts…  
__**Malleus Maleficarum**_

I was allowed one short walk outside per day, and it was pretty much whenever my jailers felt up to watching me. That day I looked up at the sky, dark, even for the time of day. It was raining, and I let the warm rain soak me. At least it felt real, unlike everything else inside the building looming in the too near distance. My tears mingled with the drops of rain, and when I licked my lips I could taste both: the sweet rain and the salty tears.

Several other people stood nearby, people who were there because of me. Nobody ever spoke to me. They weren't mad. They were dejected, just like me. I'd put them here with the curse of what my mind could do and a very convincing argument: if I didn't tell _them_ who was a supe and who was plain human, _they_ would harm my loved ones. Lately they had Jason, my older brother. Before him they'd had my Gran, and when I refused to help, they'd let her die by simply withholding care. They'd let me see her, see her decay right in front of me. She'd been adamant. With the little bit of strength she had left she had forbidden me to use my gift for such a purpose.

I'd broken in the end, and all I could hope for was that tonight, during the full moon, one or all of the people around me would turn on me and send me to a better place.

It had all started innocently enough. It was June, the month before my twenty-fifth birthday, and the vampires had announced that they were real and came out of the coffin, so to speak. This had come about thanks to a new technology developed by the Japanese, whereas blood could be synthesized. Obviously the human potential was great: no need for donors, there would never be a shortage of blood, it could be easily stored and transported, cheap to produce, and easy to procure. The vampires found this a good substitute for real human blood, good enough to come forward and show themselves.

I'd been so excited that I talked my friend Amelia into going to Fangtasia, a brand new vampire bar in Shreveport, for my birthday. She had readily agreed, as curious as me to see what a real vampire looked like.

I didn't need to wait as long as a month. A real vampire came to the bar where I worked, Merlotte's. Thankfully Sam, the owner, had stocked some of that blood substitute, just in case. It was ultra-pasteurized and kept for a long time in the fridge. The vampire sat at one of my tables, and I was all kinds of excited.

"Hello, I'm Sookie and I'll be your server. What can I get you, mister?" I said to him, giving him my friendliest smile. Several things happened in quick succession before the man answered. First I noticed a subtle glow to his skin; that was clearly not human. Second, I couldn't hear his thoughts, nary a one. My evening was complete when he smiled up at me and his fangs started to lengthen. I almost jumped for joy.

"Would you be Sookie Stackhouse?" he asked with a fangy smile.

_How did he know my name?_ "Yes! That's me. Have we had the pleasure?" I asked, waiting for him to elaborate on how he knew my name.

"I've just moved back into the Compton estate. We are neighbors. I am Bill Compton," he said and nodded at me politely. "I've had the pleasure of meeting your grandmother, Mrs. Stackhouse. She came to the house this evening to welcome me to the neighborhood."

That explained so much. Leave it up to Gran to be a little nosy. She must have seen lights on at the old Compton estate and went to investigate. She was known for walking through the cemetery at all hours. She said the dead were not to be feared. And now the dead were really walking among us!

Bill Compton had ordered a True Blood, the brand of synthetic blood we carried at Merlotte's, and he became an instant sensation. From that night on he was part of the community. He would play pool with everyone, though when he played alone one could truly see how accurate his shots were. He simply wanted to be. Just be. He'd built the Compton house and now he had returned to claim it when his great-great-grandson had passed away. We all called him Vampire Bill and he became a fixture at the bar, just like me, like Sam, like everybody who lived in Bon Temps, a tiny town smack dab in the middle between Shreveport and Monroe in the state of Louisiana.

One evening, as Sam and I were tending to the last chores and closed the bar, the Reverend Steven Newlin appeared on the TV above the bar and delivered the speech that told me not all was well with the vampires' great revelation. That rainy night, looking up at the darkening sky, I remembered every single word that Newlin had spewed.

"The threat is real. We have to rise as humans and claim the glory of God. The devils that now roam this Earth were not meant to take over. Some will assert that vampires are better because of their extraordinary powers. But this is contrary to the true faith, which teaches us that certain angels fell from heaven and are now devils, and we are bound to acknowledge that by their very nature they can do many wonderful things which we cannot do.

"There is in vampires a natural madness, a rabid lust, a wanton fancy as is seen from their spiritual sins of pride, envy, and wrath. For this reason they are the enemies of the human race: rational in mind, but reasoning without words; subtle in wickedness, eager to hurt; ever fertile in fresh deceptions, they change the perceptions and befoul the emotions of men, they confound the watchful, and in dreams disturb the sleeping; they bring diseases, stir up tempests, disguise themselves as angels of light, bear Hell always about them.

"Remember: Vampires are also named Demons, that is, Cunning over Blood, since they thirst for and procure sin with knowledge, being powerful in the subtlety of their nature, and in their age-long experience," Newlin was shouting inside the TV.

Sam and I looked at each other and shrugged. There was always someone out there who had something bad to say about what they didn't understand. I was a woman of faith, and now God had seen fit to expand my horizons. I lived in a more wonderful world than I ever realized, and I was glamoured even knowing that a vampire couldn't truly glamour me. Vampire Bill had tried one night, in jest, and hadn't succeeded.

Of course, my curse was well-known to everyone in Bon Temps. Some didn't acknowledge what I could do. Some wanted to use me to their advantage. But only Bill Compton saw me as normal, because I was an abnormal human. "Like you," I'd joked.

"Sort of like me," he had smiled. "I used to be human, now I only look it."

On my birthday, Vampire Bill had agreed to escort Amelia and me to Fangtasia. We were his dates, and we thought we were all that and a bag of chips hanging from the arm of a bona fide vampire as we entered Fangtasia. I already knew all vampires glowed, some more than others. Bill had explained that real human blood would make a vampire glow brighter. It was a type of magic. He also told me I was the only human he'd ever met who could see that. Usually only supes could see the glow.

Inside Fangtasia I saw every shade of glow. The dark interior was perfect for my eyes to see the vampires' luminescence. The two blond vampires sitting up on thrones and looking on the dance floor glowed brighter than any others. It was obvious why: they had several willing donors making a line to meet them.

"Should I go donate?" Amelia said with a wicked grin. She had her eye on the blond woman sitting stage right. She was beautiful. All the vampires were, even Bill had an ethereal handsomeness to him that was hard for a human to duplicate. The blond woman's hair was long to her waist, and shone like corn silk in the faint lights. Even from where I was standing, close to the entrance, I could tell her eyes were blue: they were that big.

The man sitting next to her was just as beautiful in a different kind of way. He was massive, tall with a slender but muscular build. His hair was blond as well, but darker than the woman's, like mine, the color of wheat. He wore it past his shoulders, which was the way he had been turned.

"A night with either of them would be very pleasurable," Bill said, encouraging Amelia to go make the line. Her smile widened and she left us.

"Why did you go tell her something like that? Now she'll be disappointed if she doesn't get picked," I said to Bill, who guided me to an empty table.

That whole night I found myself staring at the beautiful vampire man with the bored look. He never bothered to look in my direction, which was just as well. I wondered what would have happened if he did become interested. I wasn't ready to donate blood to anybody. I was… untouched… and Bill had made it plenty clear that giving blood to a vampire was equal to having sex with said vampire. Amelia did get picked by the vampire woman, whose name, I learned from Bill, was Pam. The man, Eric, seemed to have left the stage alone.

I looked around me, coming back to the present from my memories of the great revelation, when I heard the sickening sound of bones crunching together, and the gloopy sound of flesh rearranging itself over sinew, sinew over bone. The people that had been around me had all been naked in the rain before they changed into their were-animal. They wouldn't be able to jump over the tall electric fence surrounding us.

A wolf came close to me, nudging my hand. I knew his name was Alcide. He was a mountain of a man, but in wolf form he only came up to my waist. I looked down and put my hand on his head.

"Do it tonight, please. Let tonight be the night," I begged. He shook his wolf head and sat at my feet. Another animal did the same, a panther. Then another, a weretiger. I sank to the ground, surrounded by the furry forms of people who did not blame me for what I had done. I cried loudly into my hands, and the chorus of howls and deep resonating growls offered me the only comfort I was to have.

**TBC**

**A/N: So that I'm not accused of plagiarism… most of Newlin's words were taken from the Malleus Maleficarum. Although, the book is so old that no one can come and tell me I'm committing copyright infringement… even so, there you have it.**


	3. It Ends Here Tonight

**A/N: **Okey-dokey. I realize that some of my loving readers became confused with the sequence of events. If you wrote me a review, then I answered and tried to correct. If you didn't, here goes: The Preface happens sometime in the future. We know Sookie gets hurt badly and is saved by Eric. The next chapters will deal with how everything went to hell in a hand basket, so I can bring us back to the point where Eric saves Sookie. Right now we know Sookie is a prisoner, and someone is making her sort between humans and shifters. It's probably not vampires, because vampires wouldn't need a human to help them identify a shifter: they can simply smell it. So… who is holding Sookie prisoner? We shall find out shortly, although most of you will have figured it out by now.

Please remember that the authors here work without editors, and I in particular work without a Beta. Something that makes sense to me (as the creator of the story) might not make sense to you. I have no way of knowing that I did something wrong unless you let me know, so please review so I can correct. This type of story is new to me (writing-wise) so y'all are like my guinea pigs. Cute and snuggly. :-D

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**IT ENDS HERE TONIGHT**

_Proverbs xiii: Among the proud there is always contention._

June was a difficult month. For years there had been talk, debate, and downright battles over whether or not we should announce our existence to the humans. Then in May the announcement was made that the synthetic blood would be available for purchase worldwide, and the vampire governments decided that now was the time to come forward. June was the best month for it, because the nights would be their shortest in the northern hemisphere, therefore we spent the most amount of time out of the public's eye. Any retaliation would be curbed by the fact that the humans would see so little of us.

No other supernatural creatures wanted to come forward at the same time as vampires. The shifters, in particular, were reticent. I could not blame them. They could hide among humans much better than we could. Fairies were scared of us, and most remained hidden just as they had before the great revelation. The other demons did not really care one way or another, and the angels did not want to stop us. The angels actually welcomed the change of pace. Something new to do: save the souls that we brought to the dark side. Or whatever.

My ruler, Queen Sophie-Anne Leclerq, had the idea to try and open a few vampire-centric establishments to see how they would fare. I was given permission to open a bar. It was to be used as a model for others, perhaps one day it could be franchised if it became successful enough. The business model was solid enough. I had the money to see it through, or to see it fail if it came to that. We worked fast to get the bar in working order. My child, Pam, named it Fangtasia, thinking it would be witty and not scare the human clientele too much. I agreed, and the bar opened on the same night as the great revelation. Or, rather, the Great Revelation. I should capitalize such a momentous and important occasion.

Speaking of momentous and important occasions, the opening of the bar was much more successful than anyone anticipated. We suddenly had everything we had ever wanted: willing humans fawning at our feet, wanting us to feed from them, fuck them senseless, night after night, a parade of them. Pam and I were beyond surprised. We had anticipated some interest, but the reaction of the wicked was beyond our wildest dreams. We didn't even have to glamour any of them. They simply served themselves up for our pleasure.

Pam was reveling in the sudden ease and comfort of ready food. She was much younger than me and needed much more sustenance. I had become used to feeding once a week, sometimes less, and I was still much stronger than many others due solely to my age. After the first week of constant feeding and fucking, I became bored. They were all the same. All the women dressed in black and wore too much makeup. So I decided to pair it back down to once a week. I wasn't shallow enough to gorge myself on ready blood and fuck everything with a willing pussy.

"Eric! You're not helping with profit if you're just going to sulk in your chair all night," Pam had said to me exasperated.

"My bar," I said succinctly, meaning I was allowed to do whatever the fuck I wanted. I'd seen it all, done it all, everything a thousand times over. The bar was new and I enjoyed it, but everything else was the same and boring. Why would I fake enjoyment that I did not feel?

One month into the Great Revelation and vampires became a common fixture. Already we had a sitcom and a drama show on TV, with actual vampire actors, plus a reality show that I adamantly refused to watch. The success of the Great Revelation was such that the shifters decided they would reveal themselves as well. I knew it would be a mistake. Already some lunatic was saying that vampires were demons, fallen angels, and that we should be shunned like the sinful devils we were. And humans, being sheep-like in their collective thinking, had begun giving this man money to build a congregation. He'd been able to take over an abandoned warehouse in Dallas and would televise his sermons for all to hear. The man, Steven Newlin, called his congregation the Fellowship of the Sun. Of course he did. The quasi-religious congregation started picketing vampire establishments, and mine wasn't immune. We had protesters at least four nights a week.

So when the shifters had their own Great Revelation at the end of July, the Fellowship of the Sun was already strong enough to pressure the American government to make some changes in the way supernaturals in general were "handled." We had to register as a supernatural creature, even giving our date of true birth. I had to guess mine. They could not understand that there were vampires that had been around even before the advent of calendars. The problem was that we had to also provide an address, and it could not be a business. I bought a house strictly so that I and my employees could use it as the address to give to the government. All my other domiciles were under different names or trusts. They'd be safe. For now.

If I had predicted it out loud, nobody would have believed me. The government started a systemic rounding up of supernaturals, accusing them of different crimes ranging from driving under the influence (a popular one to blame shifters), to illegal blood drinking (drinking blood in public), both of which were felonies and earned the accused an automatic trip to jail. Intelligence reports handed down to us from our Queen pointed to something like concentration camps. Supernaturals had no expectation of innocence until proven otherwise.

Pam was taken one August night. If it had been any other of my employees, I would not have bothered. But my child needed me. I was not an evil maker, I knew I owed her. I owed her safety, at least, and much more. She had been my faithful companion for three centuries. Against my own sense of self-preservation, I "got caught" as well. In truth, nobody that was apprehended had actually done the deed they accused us of. We were simply caught. Well, actually, mine was true. I was accused of reckless driving. I had been driving well over the speed limit of fifty five miles per hour. My Corvette was zipping along at a good one hundred and twenty miles per hour, when a large Crown Vic with flashing red and blue lights caught up to me. If they suspected a vampire was inside the offending car, the first thing the human police would do was use a sonic weapon. The noise was so intense and painful to a vampire's ultra-sensitive ears that he or she would become disoriented and lose control of the car. I sacrificed my Corvette that night.

As I stumbled out of the wreckage, my ears bleeding and ringing, the police threw a silver net over me, burning the exposed skin of my arms and face. I sank to the ground and waited to be cuffed. Nobody read me my rights. Nobody uttered any words directed at me, for that matter. Not that I could have heard them. They simply waited for the vampire transport van, put me in it, and I disappeared from the life I had so carefully tried to keep hidden.

About forty five minutes later we arrived at our destination, and a tall burly human dragged me out of the van and into a nondescript white building. It looked like a box standing up against the dark rain with many electric fences surrounding it. They looked to be about twelve, maybe fifteen feet tall.

The humans thought the silver handcuffs were keeping me subdued, and I let them believe it. There were several guards waiting for me to do something stupid while I was searched, which of course I was not about to do. I needed to find Pam. I was hoping this is where they were keeping her. I would not call to her just yet, not until I knew the lay of the land, so to speak.

The thick man pushed me down several bright halls and I memorized every turn and scent. My ears were healing, but were not healed fully, so I could not catalog all the sounds. The sound of silence was as deafening as the sonic weapon's noise.

I was pushed into a cell, and the cuffs were taken off. The cube was lined with silver; surely it had been prohibitively expensive to build. Across from my cell I could see others several feet away. Those cells were open, but the scent of many creatures lingered, so the shifters must have been allowed to frolic outside. It was a full moon after all.

With nothing better to do until my ears healed fully, I lied on the uncomfortable cot and sunk into down time. It would help with the healing anyway. The first sounds I heard were those of clanging, barking, howling, growling, whimpering. Fuck! I was in a zoo. I looked across and saw the automatic cell doors closing behind several shifters that had returned from the outside. The smell of wet fur was disgusting.

I lied back down and waited everyone out. Eventually the building became dark and the creatures slept. I could hear so much better then, that I started cataloguing sounds and scents. Grunting pig; deep resonating breathing of a bear; several snoring Weres. And a sob. Of a human. It sounded like a woman, and she was in the cell beside mine. She must have been quiet up until that moment, the moment when everyone was good and asleep.

I listened with my newly healed eardrums, easily making out the words she was whispering under her breath. "O Lord Jesus Christ, look upon us with those eyes of thine where-with thou dist look upon Peter in the hall; that with Peter we may repent and, by the same love be forgiven; for thine mercy's sake. Amen. I didn't want to, I didn't mean it. Please, please forgive me."

I frowned. First of all, what was a human doing here? What had she done? The Fellowship and the Federal government had not gone so far as to incarcerate humans sympathetic to vampires. The other civilized countries would not have allowed it.

The woman was still crying quietly and I felt a strange pang of guilt. I seldom felt guilty, let alone about things I could not control. But the woman sounded heartbroken beyond measure. I took a deep breath, to catalog her scent as well. She smelled sweet, much sweeter than any of the human guards inside the building. Much more delectable than any other human I'd encountered lately. Once that was done and I knew the woman in the cell next to me (by scent and sound, at least), I endeavored to reach out to my child.

Pam responded to my call by calling out to me as well. She was very close. This was good. I was sure it would be possible for me to work out a way to get her out of here. After this stupidity, we were moving to Sweden. Fuck it.

**TBC**


	4. Godspeed

**A/N: **I'm still laying down the back story… so this chapter is heavy with info. Sookie is doing a lot of remembering.

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**GODSPEED**

I had taken refuge against the rain under an awning, but it was too late. I was soaked to the bone. I stared at the shifters. Some of them made the most of their imprisonment. The werewolves, in particular, liked to frolic with each other. I noticed the tiger was enjoying the rain, and I remembered that real tigers were very fond of being inside water, unlike other cats.

Of all the shifters, I knew one best. He'd been my boss after all, and a little more. Sam Merlotte padded over to me, looking like a bear. He sat beside me, and his head came almost to my shoulders. He was massive, but still as gentle with me as he'd ever been. I hugged him, enjoying the warm wet fur, and I remembered the day he had told me his secret.

"Come here, Sookie," he'd said to me as I was passing by his office. "Close the door, please." I entered and sat next to him. He'd been sitting at his desk looking serious as a grave. He looked up and gave me a sad smile. "Tomorrow is a very important day, about as important as the great revelation."

That shocked me. "Really? How do you know? What's going to happen?" I asked quickly, a little excited. I had suspected that if there was such a thing as vampires, then there might be other creatures that hadn't made themselves known. I felt a smile forming on my lips as I waited for answers.

Sam didn't feel like sharing in my excitement. "I don't want to scare you, Sookie. You're a friend, and I think you ought to know what's going to happen," he looked away from me and at his hands, "and what I am," he mumbled.

I was curious enough to do something I'd never done to Sam. I read his mind. I noticed that his thoughts were not like the thoughts of others, but that didn't surprise me. Not everyone broadcasted their thoughts in the same way. He seemed to think more in colors than in shapes.

Finally the curiosity began eating at me. "Come on, Sam. Whatever it is I can take it. You know what I am."

"Yes, and I'm still surprised that you haven't figured me out yet," he said looking up again and straight into my eyes. His thoughts cleared and I could see the wood at night, but everything fogged up again within his mind.

"I try very hard to stay out," I said, putting it as delicately as I could. What I meant to say was that I made a superhuman effort to shield myself against his thoughts in particular. I'd found it was never a good idea to read the mind of the person who signed your paychecks. It led to a sore lack of employment on my part.

"Thank you, Sookie. I know it must be hard, but you don't have to do that. I've never thought about anything that might offend you," Sam paused, looking at his hands again. "As a matter of fact, I give you permission to read my mind from now on. You don't have to try so hard anymore."

I waved him off. "It's okay, Sam. So… what is it you wanted to tell me?" I asked again, more than just curious now. I was itching to know Sam's secret. I usually knew everybody's secret, what with my ability to read everybody's mind, but since I'd stayed out of Sam's… let's just say that now that he was giving me permission to snoop, I really wanted to know, but I wanted him to tell me.

Sam took a deep breath. "I am a shape shifter."

I blinked. There was nothing I could say to that because I couldn't understand what he'd just said.

He decided he needed to elaborate. "I have the ability to shift into any animal at will, and always during the full moon," he explained.

"Shift into any animal?" I repeated dumbly. Somehow the image wasn't fitting inside my head. I couldn't conjure up anything even remotely close to what he meant.

"Yes. I can look at a picture of an animal and turn into that animal. I usually turn into a collie, and I have a book on my coffee table open to the picture of a collie. But I can turn into anything," he elaborated, talking to me like I was a five-year-old. I guess I deserved it.

"Any animal? Like a wolf or a bear?" I asked again.

"Yes, any animal I see and imprint on."

"At any time?"

"At any time. It takes me more energy to do it when there isn't a full moon. And at a full moon I have to change whether I'd like to or not," he kept on explaining.

I sat back in my chair. My brain started working properly again and my mind was full of questions. "Are there others like you?"

"I'm the rarest sort of shifter, but there are others like me. There are also shifters that turn into only one animal, like werewolves, and werepanthers, that sort of thing."

I shook my head and I knew I was smiling in wonder. How had I missed this? The world was truly a marvelous place. My ability was nothing compared to the ability to shift into something different. That must have been incredible! A true miracle. God really did work in mysterious ways. Strange and wondrous ways. Knowing all this affirmed my faith because if there were such things as vampires and shape shifters, then certainly there was a deity overseeing all of us. I called my deity God, but he or she went by other names too. I was sure of it, more than ever. My faith doubled, tripled!

My Gran would be so excited to learn about shape shifters. She'd been giddy as a teenager when she learned that our neighbor was a vampire, a vampire who had fought in the Civil War while he was still a man. Bill and Gran had become friends: he liked to talk about his human days, and she loved to listen. Now she would probably ask me to bring Sam so she could ask him all sorts of questions.

"Is it okay to tell my Gran?" I asked Sam.

His answering grin was wide and full of relief. He stood up suddenly and scooped me up into a tight hug. "Thank you, Sookie. You are the one person whose opinion matters the most. You've made me so happy."

My heart gave a tiny leap at those words. What did he mean? Suddenly I didn't need to guess at the meaning anymore. He had let go of me enough so he could kiss my mouth. I'd seldom been kissed, and Sam was a very important person in my life. Quick as a wink I made a decision to kiss him back. I was sure that kissing the boss was a mistake, but kissing Sam wasn't.

He pulled away when he felt my kiss to lock my eyes with his gaze. He was asking for permission. His eyes were an intense shade of blue, much prettier to look at than my own blue-gray ones. I smiled shyly, sort of hoping he'd continue what he started. Somehow kissing Sam was not at all like the other awkward kisses I'd received before. His thoughts transferred when he touched me, but they were mostly pretty colors.

Sam caressed my face and kissed me again, this time softer. Lacking any ability, I simply copied what he was doing. His lips were a little rough, like he'd been biting them, but warm and tender on mine. We were interrupted by a knock on his door, and I jumped about three feet in the air. Sam chuckled and kissed my forehead before letting me go. I turned away from the door, knowing my face must have been red as a beet.

"Sam!" it was Lafayette, the cook at Merlotte's and my good friend. He sounded desperate. I forgot my embarrassment and turned in his direction. "Something happened to Vampire Bill. His house is on fire, and the firefighters can't tell if he was in there or not."

"Oh, no!" I muttered. I was so hoping Bill had picked tonight to go visit with Gran. Without thinking too long about it, I dug for my purse inside Sam's desk and got my cell phone. I called home to see if Gran was okay and if Bill was with her.

"He was here briefly about ten minutes ago. He came in his car and said he was on his way to Shreveport," Gran said. Before I hung up I expressly forbade her to go across the cemetery to watch Bill's house burn. She was due for dialysis treatment the next day, so she wasn't a hundred percent healthy. Not that she ever was.

Sam called Bill's cell phone and he answered. We all sighed in relief. Bill was okay. True, he would be heartbroken about his house, but he was still alive, so to speak. Sam broke the bad news to Bill and offered him a place in his trailer to spend the day. That's how close Bill had become to everyone at Merlotte's. If Sam hadn't offered, I would have offered as well. I didn't know where in my house he could spend the day, but we'd figure it out.

As it turned out, Bill _was_ devastated, but since he was on his way to Shreveport he could stay with some vampire friends who had adequate accommodations. There was nothing to be done for the house other than call the insurance company. Bill took that part in stride. Apparently when you had been on the Earth for over a hundred and fifty years, losing a house wasn't the end of the world. What hurt him was losing _this_ particular house.

The rest of that night I listened to every brain I could, giving myself a massive headache in the process. I wanted to "hear" anybody thinking about Bill's house, and if anybody thought it was foul play. I wasn't naïve enough to think that everyone was as mesmerized by the vampires (and now shape shifters) as I was. There were some people, even in tiny Bon Temps, that didn't think the vampires were signs from God. To them they were devils. Some of the stuff I'd seen on TV reminded me of the witch hunts I'd read about that had taken place in Salem, Massachusetts, more than two hundred years before. There were people accusing regular humans of being vampires. They were some of the strangest days.

I didn't find anybody thinking anything bad about Bill's house. Most people were thinking it was a shame because they liked Vampire Bill, or else they weren't thinking about it at all.

The next night the shifters announced their existence, much in the same way as vampires. We had the TV on over the bar, a new really thin one that Sam had gotten for the occasion. As soon as the announcement was made, several shifters within Merlotte's decided to show themselves. Calvin Norris, from Hot Shot – which was way down the road from Bon Temps – shifted into a beautiful panther. The most amazing thing was watching the animal prance fluidly, and knowing that: one, it was Calvin; and two, it wasn't going to attack. Sam chose the collie he'd told me about, and he was cute as a button. One other person, a man I'd seen several times that tipped rather well – whose name I didn't know – turned into a wolf. The people at Merlotte's began clapping loudly.

That night I listened to brains again. The people who took offense at the sudden revelation left the bar, but they were very few. We lost Arlene, one of the waitresses, when she quit on the spot. Just as well. Everybody else settled down after the initial surprise, and life went back to normal.

Sam asked me out on a date the night of the shifter revelation. He set it up so that we could meet Bill at the vampire bar where I'd gone for my birthday. I accepted, of course. We had already kissed, might as well go on the date that was supposed to go along with it. We'd have to wait a whole week for everyone's schedule to coincide.

That week was the week from hell. Literally. A new group called the Fellowship of the Sun had lobbied in Congress for the supernaturals to register as such. It went against everything this country stood for. It wasn't even a census. It sounded a lot like what had happened in Germany right before World War II. Back then the Jews were targeted for their religion. Now the supernaturals were being targeted for their genes. There was so much hate, so much fear, and so much confusion that some people were calling it the end of the world.

Many people decided to skip registering when it became law. Some states completely repealed the Federal law as unconstitutional. Louisiana wasn't one of them. Pretty much every southern state adopted the rule. If a supe wanted to live anonymously, he would have to move to the northeast or northwest. Sam didn't want to leave his life behind, but neither did he want to register, so he let the deadline slip by. I thought it was a mistake, but didn't voice my opinion. I hate to say that this was not my problem, but it wasn't any of my business.

Sam and I met Bill at Fangtasia and ended up having a wonderful time. Sam indulged me by taking me out on the dance floor several times, even though he wasn't that good. He was good enough. Bill had asked his new real estate agent out for a date as well.

We followed Bill out of the parking lot at the end of the night, and he kept on going through Shreveport while Sam took the highway to Bon Temps. About ten miles out of Shreveport Sam got pulled over by an unmarked police car. We weren't sure why. True, he wasn't abiding by the speed limit, but he wasn't going that fast either.

As soon as the police officer approached the car I knew everything that had happened: they'd followed us out from Fangtasia and decided to stop us when we were well into the state highway. It was some sort of trap to "punish" people who frequented vampire bars. Sam was livid when I told him. He'd already handed over his license, registration and proof of insurance, and the cop was running everything through a database and writing up the ticket back in his car.

I let my guard down and wasn't listening to the either the cop or his partner's thoughts. I was concentrating on Sam, because I'd had a very enjoyable night up until this point and I was nervous and wanted to find out if he had enjoyed himself too. Unbeknownst to me, someone had told the government that Sam was a shifter, and now he was an unregistered shifter which was a felony. We both ended up with our hands cuffed and leaning forward over the hood of Sam's truck. Before long a small van came and picked us up, and delivered us to the building in which we now found ourselves.

A loud siren brought me back to the present. I'd found that my mind had a tendency to drift lately, remembering everything and wishing things could have turned out differently. Sam had imprinted on a fellow werebear who didn't mind for Sam to look like him (the werewolves would have none of it – they were a proud race), and now he was starting to get up from his sitting stance next to me so we could all go back inside to our cells.

Once inside mine, I changed quickly into a dry uniform. I had become used to my nudity, and oddly enough the only person that could see me naked was Sam, whose cell was right across from mine. I hid too far away for others to be able to see me. I was pretty sure Sam had seen me, but I didn't get the impression that he ogled.

I lied on my bed and listened to the minds of all the people, as one by one fell into a deep sleep. I knew, for instance, that there was a new vampire in the cell next to mine. He or she wouldn't sleep. Too bad, because I really wanted to cry without having an audience this time. No matter, I hadn't brought the vampire here, so I could cry without feeling guilty. And so I did. I prayed for forgiveness and I cried until I was just sobbing without tears. I grew silent when I had nothing but deep despair inside me.

"Psst!" I heard from the cell next door. It was the vampire.

"What?" I asked curtly. I knew I'd been heard crying and I feared I'd be asked stuff. Next thing I know something had been thrown inside my cell. It was a small paint chip, about the size of half my palm. In tiny letters scratched into the paint, the vampire had scribbled: _Whisper, I'll hear. Where is other vampire?_

Oh! Rescue mission. Well, at least some of us could get out of here. I cast out a wide mental net, looking for another void. It wasn't as easy as it should have been because most minds were asleep. They weren't voids, but they weren't active either. I found only one void within my scope. Whoever it was, the cell was ten minds straight, and five minds left.

I told the vampire where to find the other in the quietest whisper I could muster. He said "thank you" in a deep resonating voice before breaking the door that was trying to hold him in. I knew that cell had been reinforced with silver, so this vampire must have been extremely old and powerful to be able to do that. As soon as he broke the door the alarms started to sound, but I doubted very much that they would be able to catch the now rogue vampire. I'd seen Bill move at vampire speed. It wasn't something that someone could see, let alone apprehend.

I smiled to myself. I'd done a good deed, for once. I wished the vampire good luck and Godspeed.

**TBC**


	5. Into the Nothing, Faded & Weary

**A/N: **Thank you, ALL of you, who take the time to review, favorite, and alert this story (all my other stories too). As always, I'm humbled by my amazing, beautiful, generous, funny, deep, amazing (I said that one, but it bears repeating) readers.

So… I don't do this very often, but I know some of you are really serious about your music (as I am) and may be able to follow. The soundtrack for this party includes a lot of Breaking Benjamin, Stone Sour, Within Temptation, Chevelle, Red, Seether, that type of heavy (sometimes depressing) music. Let's thank my muse for that… I think.

* * *

**INTO THE NOTHING, FADED & WEARY**

I was tired and my eyes burned from crying so long, but I was suddenly more awake than I'd ever been in my life. This was the chance we were looking for. Everyone woke up as soon as the vampire ripped the door off his cell. When the sirens started sounding that's when the larger shifters began throwing themselves at the bars. Sam and the werebear broke through first, using their massive grizzly bear bodies to put enough pressure and dislodge the mechanism. Having supernatural strength also helped, I supposed.

I stood up quickly and scrambled to the bars, watching the commotion outside of my cell. I backed up when Sam came right across and started throwing his body against my cell door. The metal creaked and bent under the force, and I was very aware that Sam must have been hurting himself to get to me. The other werebear helped the tiger, who finally broke free and started helping. The noise was deafening, between the wereanimals calling to each other and the sounds of metal bending and breaking, plus the sirens inside the prison. It was all I could do to keep my wits about me.

The guards didn't show up. I tried my best to monitor the minds of the humans, but they had mostly remained in another part of the building, or else were pursuing the vampire. I couldn't care. They weren't coming close to us. Yet.

"Jason!" I yelled, making Sam take notice. I followed his bear form at a run to where we knew my brother was being held, also in another cell. Jason looked as desperate as me. The tiger and the panther were already helping, so when Sam dealt the final blow the door dislodged with a groan and my brother was free.

I knew that escaping to be caught later was the same as a death sentence, but honestly I had nothing left to lose. None of us did. We could only gain from this. There had been no question in my mind that the miserable treatment would only get worse. I'd already been threatened with rape and torture. It was just a matter of time until they followed through. They'd already let my grandmother die, and for that they would never be forgiven, not by my God, and not by theirs.

Jason took a piece of broken pipe and grabbed my hand. We ran behind the animals, through the door that led to the yard. My heart was hammering inside my chest in fear. The human minds had started moving closer to us, so I knew now we were being pursued. We also had an electrified fence in front of us. I sensed a void particularly close to us, then another. The vampires. I looked in their direction, finding them easy in the bright lights that shone unto the yard. The tall blond man and short petite woman pulled on the doors we'd just gone through and ripped them, throwing them vampire fast at the fence. The fence sizzled and threw sparks high into the air, disintegrating under the force of the doors crashing into it.

I gawked like an idiot until Jason pulled me. I moved but my eyes never left the sight of the vampires' impressive figures. The male vampire turned in my direction and grinned at me, mouthing "thank you" before taking the other vampire in his arms and zooming into the air. He flew away, having helped us escape. If all went well then my one good deed had just paid me in threefold.

Jason kept pulling, guiding me carefully through the hole in the fence, the doors lying in a crumpled heap of steel at either side. Sam was waiting for me on the other side already. "Go with Sam. They can't find either of you again. Understand?" Jason said, in a frantic attempt to save me.

"But…"

"GO WITH SAM!" Jason yelled. "You are who they want. Go with Sam," Jason hugged me tight, and I hugged him back feeling a lump in my throat. This felt like goodbye. "Sam will keep you safe. I love you, Little Sis," he kissed my forehead, then turned me around and pushed me towards Sam.

Before I knew it, Jason picked me up and set me on Sam's back. I held on to the scruff of Sam's neck and tightened the grip of my thighs over the shifting muscles. Sam ran through the clearing, and Jason ran the other way. I kept Jason's mind inside mine for as long as I could. All I could hear was fear and rage. There were no clear thoughts to tell me what he was up to.

Soon we were inside the woods that surrounded this area. I wasn't sure where we were, if we even were in Louisiana, but Sam's sure steps kept me from panicking or thinking we were lost. The rain was trickling through the thick canopy of trees. We could still hear other shifters around us, but none close enough that I could see. The dark of night was pressing on my eyes and I could make out very little, so just because I couldn't see them, didn't mean they weren't there.

I concentrated on keeping a tight grip on the bear. I don't know how long we ran, but when we stopped my legs wouldn't hold me and I sank to the ground next to a tree. Sam started pacing around us. I could barely see him, but it seemed he was puffing into the air, so maybe he was scenting for intruders. I couldn't feel any minds nearby. All the shifters had scattered, and there were no humans or voids around us. I didn't say anything, though. I didn't want to remind Sam of what I could do that had put so many into that prison.

The bear circled the tree, finding a comfortable spot and settling right beside me. Too bad the thoughts of Sam in animal form didn't transfer very well because I would have really liked to know what he was thinking at that moment, and I didn't speak bear. Sam turned his massive head to me and nudged me under my arm, sort of slipping his head under it and setting his head on my lap. Then he took it away. Maybe he was being like Lassie, showing me what I should do to him. I rearranged my body as best I could and lied on him. The rain had stopped but it was still damp and cool, even for August. I was wet, and so was Sam, but at least he was warm. I closed my eyes with no expectation that I would sleep, but I did.

I had some really strange dreams. I dreamt of my house, of Merlotte's, of my brother's house. I dreamt in detail of Sam's trailer, though I'd seldom been inside it. I also dreamt of the kiss Sam and I had shared, of our date, and what should have happened after it… another kiss, and another. I woke up with a start when Sam and I started taking each other's clothes off. My dream had taken a mighty twisted turn.

The light inside the thick woods announced it was early morning, from the looks of it. I looked around me and realized I'd been lying on human Sam's naked body. He had shifted back during his sleep. Oh! He'd been the one thinking about us, not me. A quick touch to his arm confirmed it. He was dreaming up some very steamy scenes between us. Thank goodness they weren't transferring if I didn't touch him. I looked at him as he stirred. His strawberry blond curls looked dirty, and his tan stopped where his pants would have been. He was mooning me, and I giggled a little. Of all the bizarre things that had happened… he'd fallen asleep on his stomach as a bear, so he'd remained on his stomach. Knowing men, maybe that was a good thing. It certainly avoided an embarrassing situation right about now.

I leaned against the tree and closed my eyes. I heard Sam moving again, his mind telling me he was finally waking up. He started broadcasting his usual colors and hazy thoughts. I cast out a wider net, checking for other brains nearby, but there was nothing.

"Sookie? You can open your eyes now, cher," Sam said in a quiet voice. Figures he'd know I would be embarrassed to see him naked. When I opened my eyes I saw he was sitting with his back to me.

"Okay," I said.

"We need to keep moving. We traveled about fifteen miles last night, but we have some ways to go," he said.

Wow! Fifteen miles… "Where are we going?"

"Your house and mine for now, only to pick up clothes and one of our cars."

"Where are we?" I asked. He seemed to know.

"We were in Homer. Now we're getting close to home," he said turning his head a little. "You're going to have to get used to seeing me naked because I have nothing to imprint on," he looked up, "except that wren."

I followed his gaze and saw the little bird up on a tree branch, looking at the two humans who didn't belong there. I took a deep breath and put on my big girl panties. This was a life and death situation, and I just had to get over it. Besides, it wasn't like I would be ogling. I could look away. "Okay," I said and stood up with a lot of effort. My legs still hurt from holding onto Sam so tight as I sat on his bear back. Hmm… bare bear back.

"Good, because I hate flying," he stood up in one fluid movement and grabbed my hand. He wasn't thinking anything naughty now. I gathered that he was hungry and thirsty. I was too, but wasn't about to say anything. There was nothing he could do for me, so it was no use whining about it. He kept quiet about it too.

We walked so long that I stopped feeling my legs when the sun was high in the sky. Eventually we reached a running stream and were able to drink. By then things had started to look familiar.

"Are we close to Bon Temps?" I asked after I'd satisfied my thirst and washed my face and hands. I coiled my hair upon itself into a makeshift bun.

"Very close. Your house is that way, and mine is farther down. We'll go to yours first if you can stand seeing me naked for a little longer," Sam smiled apologetically.

I smiled back. I hadn't looked at anything and kept my eyes firmly away from anything but his face. "Jason has some clothes there that you can have."

We started walking again. It truly felt like the end of the world. All of it reminded me of that Will Smith movie with the zombies, or whatever they were. Except the bad guys weren't the supernatural people. The bad guys were the plain humans, running scared and senseless, as usual, and making decisions out of fear instead of reason. Or maybe it was more like Stephen King's _The Stand_. I wondered when the Devil would show up.

After about an hour I recognized the woods we were in. I'd walked through them enough to know what I was looking at. Sam stopped and told me to hide. "I'm going to check your house and make sure it's okay for us to go there. Stay here until I come back."

I nodded and watched as he turned into that wren we'd seen before. It was unbelievable. Somehow all of Sam's essence fit inside the tiny bird. He flew away and I waited. He returned soon thereafter in human form, and bid me to follow.

There was a spare key under the second flowerpot to the left which I used and replaced. It had only been two weeks since we'd all been taken, so the house still had electricity, at least. Nothing seemed out of place, but we couldn't linger for very long. First things first, though. I went to the hot second floor to find Sam pants and a shirt. I also found shoes, but no underwear. I wondered if he even wanted the shoes. It might hurt more to wear them than not, particularly if they weren't the right size. I brought everything downstairs, gave Sam a towel and showed him to my bathroom. I'd use Gran's.

I washed my hair enjoying the warm water and the scents I remembered. All we had in prison was a generic soap and shampoo, no conditioner. I didn't know where we were going from here, so I luxuriated in washing my skin with the good body wash, and washing my hair twice, along with putting conditioner on it. I knew Sam must have been done because the water pressure changed, but I couldn't bring myself to hurry.

I closed my eyes, letting the warm water hit my head and rinse off the conditioner. I thought about the vampire that I had helped. He looked like the one I'd seen at Fangtasia, both vampires did. Had I just helped the owner of Fangtasia find his mate? I'd never seen him smile at Fangtasia, but he'd smiled at me to thank me. I sighed. At least I had that: one good deed that rectified the rest of my sins.

Since I'd spent too long in the shower, I dressed quickly and went to find Sam. I found him just one room over, in the kitchen. He was cooking… thank God! I was starving.

"It's not much. You did have some stuff that hadn't spoiled in the freezer, but the stuff in the fridge is… iffy. We'll take the canned things with us," he said. I looked over his shoulder. He was heating up pork chops. I supposed he had defrosted them in the microwave. I had _really_ taken my sweet old time.

"I'm sorry for taking so long in the shower," I said timidly. Sam turned to me and walked purposefully, bridging the gap between us and hugging me to him.

"Sookie, you're entitled to a nice hot shower," I could hear his voice inside his chest. He wasn't much taller than me, but I had ducked my head to cuddle against him. I needed the tender touch. "I think we're safe for a little bit, but then we need to go."

I nodded and moved away to start packing. I got some spare grocery bags and filled them with canned foods, a few cutlery items, a can opener (I really did not want to forget that!), and a couple of large bowls. They could serve several purposes. I left those by the door to the porch and went to retrieve a suitcase for my clothes. I hadn't traveled, but Gran had gone out of state a couple of times with her club, the Descendants of the Glorious Dead. She had gotten a small suitcase just for that. I filled it with essentials: underwear, jeans, t-shirts, a couple of sweaters, and socks. I wasn't sure how long we'd need to live out of a suitcase, so the sweaters were for just-in-case. I remembered the most important thing a traveler should always carry, and proceeded to throw in a couple of the thicker towels we owned and then I started crying.

There wasn't a "we" anymore. This house had belonged to my Gran and I lived here with her. But now that she was gone it all belonged to me. Everything was mine. My towels, my food, my house. I dug into Gran's jewelry case, now mine, and reached for the real stuff. I stuck the few pieces inside a roll of socks and went in search of the extra cash hidden throughout the house. I found some under Gran's mattress and some under mine. There was some inside a small tin can with a cat on it, the one Gran always called "the kitty." I found almost five hundred dollars, and even a few gift cards that we had forgotten about. By the time I packed everything, lunch was ready.

Sam and I ate in silence at first. Jason had made me Sam's responsibility, but I didn't think that was very fair. I'd been his employee, and we'd only gone on one date. Hardly a steady relationship.

"What are your plans?" I asked Sam. If I didn't like his plans, I could politely say I was going or doing something else, and drive up to New Jersey, the closest state where the supes didn't need to register.

"We're going to drive up north, avoiding the highways as much as possible," he answered. Well, darn! That was my idea too.

"You know, you don't have to let me drag you down. I know Jason sort of shoved me in your general direction, but I think…"

"Stop right there! Sookie Stackhouse, where the hell is your brain right this moment?" Sam asked. He'd raised his voice to me. He'd never raised his voice to me, like ever. I didn't answer, just shrugged and looked down at my food. "You're in my care from now on, whether you like it or not. This cannot go on forever. At some point we'll be able to return to our lives. Until then, you're with me."

I didn't say anything, just kept thinking of arguments that had no merit. Sam reached over to bring my face up with a finger under my chin. "I'm only mad that you'd think you were a burden. We're in this together. I would never leave you alone."

"Thank you," I said, because in reality I didn't want to be alone.

We packed up the rest of what we needed from my house and Sam's, transferred everything to Sam's truck, and started heading north as the sun started setting. With a sense of hopelessness I bid goodbye to the town where I'd been born.

**TBC**


	6. Tears Don't Fall

**A/N: **Nobody noticed my mistake but I did… Sam can't be driving his truck if it was impounded when he and Sookie were stopped on the highway and taken prisoners. So, this is the way I'm going to fix it: Sam, like many restaurateurs, has two vehicles (a personal and a business one). He'd been driving his personal SUV when they got stopped, and now he and Sookie are driving the pickup truck he uses to buy things for the bar. I'm going to be sneaky that way.

On a serious note: I've done this type of POV before, where what one person hasn't seen, another person picks up on. This is true of life and the way our brains don't all work the same way. It's important to understand that Sookie has told her story from her own very personal point of view, and now Sam will tell it from his point of view, the way HE saw it, the things Sookie hasn't seen or has ignored, even of herself. It's going to get worse before it gets better.

* * *

**TEARS DON'T FALL**

Sookie had curled up in her seat and had fallen asleep under a blanket. The only bruises I could see were the ones on her face: a black eye; a gash on her cheek where someone must have either punched her or smacked her hard enough to break the skin; her lip was still swollen from the day before. The night before, while she changed from her wet clothes, I'd spied the other bruises while she thought I wasn't looking from my cell. My heart ached and I cried. In bear form it was nothing more than a growl.

Someone from Bon Temps had told the Fellowship of the Sun the name of every shifter, vampire and fantastical creature they knew, and the list included Sookie for her extraordinary ability to read others' thoughts. How she had been gifted – or cursed – with such ability was anybody's guess. But she was fully human, of that I was certain.

As soon as we were apprehended our captors tried to test Sookie. I was left in the same room with her, a stark white box with nothing but two chairs in it: one for Sookie and one for me. We were made to sit down with our hands cuffed behind us at opposite ends of the room. I kept trying to tell her to keep a poker face, no matter what she read in their thoughts, but I knew she couldn't read my own thoughts that well. The curse of being a shifter, I guessed. Sookie couldn't see that I was falling in love with her, and she couldn't heed my caution because she couldn't read it properly.

A guard came inside the sterile room and stood in the middle. He didn't look at either of us, but I could see Sookie's expression shifting infinitesimally. The guard must have been thinking of creative ways to torture either me or her. When the guard turned to me, Sookie screamed.

"He has a knife!" she said as quickly as she could get the words out.

The guard did not have a knife. He merely thought he did and she picked up on the thought. He smiled and turned to her. Whoever was watching from the one-way window or the surveillance camera now knew that what was said of Sookie was true. We were led to our cells soon thereafter. It wasn't until the next day that things took a turn for the worse.

Without waiting to see whether or not Sookie would cooperate, the Fellowship brought her sick grandmother and her brother to the prison. Maybe they thought that the Stackhouse family would all have the gift of telepathy; maybe there was no other intention than to make Sookie speak. And when Sookie refused…

Here I had to take a break from my memories. Everything had gone so wrong in such a short time. Sookie had been enchanted to learn of the vampires and about me. By her own admission her world had expanded and become infinitely more interesting. Obviously fear drove the rest of the humans to do the unthinkable: concentration camps, hundreds of them everywhere.

The rumors ran rampant, but nobody wanted to confirm the reports. The people who were indifferent couldn't believe that their government would allow such a thing. The people who tried to do the right thing swiftly disappeared. That left the ones that had active roles in finding, capturing, and keeping the supernaturals imprisoned, and the ones that had gone into hiding to save themselves or a loved one. I had gathered as much from the other shifters in the prison.

We would speak in whispers too low for humans to decipher. We would talk of what was going on outside of our prison, the rumors that the vampires were starting to get fed up with the ways things had gone to hell, and the shifters that arrived after I did would speak of the girl that had identified them. They talked of how her face was full of undisguised agony, tears, how the guards would hit her when she refused to speak, the threats they would issue against her or against her brother. One shifter, a weretiger named Quinn, said he had gotten in trouble because he'd tried to stop a guard from touching her any further. They had shocked him into submission, and she was forced to tell them what he was in order to stop his own torture.

"She begged them to stop," Quinn had said with guilt in his own voice. "She didn't know me and she begged for my safety at the expense of her own."

That was Sookie, alright. I looked to my right. She had moved in her sleep and had winced. She was hurting everywhere, I was sure of it, but I wondered what else they had done to her. It was as if she didn't see her own bruises. What else was she hiding, if anything? Whatever it was, Jason felt strongly enough about it to remain near the prison to exact revenge.

We crossed the river into Mississippi and I was too tired to continue. I found a small motel that didn't look too bad and decided to stop. Sookie needed rest if she was going to heal. I paid cash up front and the man at the front desk didn't seem like the kind that was going to ask too many questions. I was just grateful we were past the full moon.

I moved the truck to park it in front of our room and went to the passenger side to get Sookie. She was still sleeping.

"Come, cher," I whispered, turning her gently so I could carry her inside. She woke up briefly to hiss under her breath. Something I had touched had hurt her. "I'm so sorry, Sookie. Come on, sweetheart, hold on." She put her arms around my neck and I took her inside the room.

"Where are we?" she asked, her voice groggy.

"Somewhere in Mississippi, off Route 61," I answered, helping her get under the covers.

"I don't know where that is," she said and turned away. She fell asleep again and I was ready to join her.

I got in bed beside her, too hot to join her under the covers. Her scent was as sweet as ever, the same that had enveloped me since the day she'd come to the bar looking for a job. Who knew that her pure indomitable spirit could one day be broken? How did I fix something like that?

I turned on the TV to watch the news before going to sleep. I needed to see what was going on around us, how safe we were if at all, and if the rumors that the vampires were beginning to retaliate were true.

The vampire King of Mississippi, Russell Edgington, was on a local channel, arguing with someone from the Fellowship of the Sun. He looked and spoke like an old-fashioned southern gentleman.

"And what say you about the rumors that you are building government-sanctioned concentration camps to contain the supernatural population?" Edgington asked. I sat up in bed, waiting to hear the answer.

"That is a total lie, sir. That is a lie made up by the same supernatural people who want to take over this world. This world belongs to the children of God, and only those who are closest to Him will find eternal glory!" the Fellowship man bellowed. It wasn't Newlin, but an underling with the last name Franceski. He was one to talk! That name sounded Polish. His grandparents had probably been in concentration camps themselves.

"Excuse me, Mr. Franceski, but I was not speaking about religion. I was asking a perfectly valid question about the rumors that have been circulated throughout the supernatural population…"

Franceski interrupted. "You, sir, you are a devil sent to Earth by he who is damned to spend all of eternity away from God and you are here to try to corrupt my soul! I will not allow it because I am faithful to my Lord. I am Job and you are nothing but the Devil. Go back to your evil depths!"

"I can assure you I used to be a human just like you and was born from the womb of a human woman," Edgington said, his voice was getting colder and colder. "I did not rise from any depth or fall from any height."

This exchange was getting out of hand. It looked like they had wanted the two men to duke it out in a debate, but the Fellowship zealot was grabbing this chance for spewing faulty rhetoric. I frowned, deeply troubled that this was what people were believing. It felt like we'd gone back several hundred years.

"I don't believe that," Sookie said in a soft voice by my side.

I turned off the TV and lied back down, turning to face her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's okay. I don't believe that anyone who is not human is the Devil. That's stupid. We're all God's children," she said, her voice a little raspy.

"Sookie, you're tired. We have tons of time to talk about that later," I said and put my hand on her left cheek, the one with the gash. "I'm so sorry this happened to you," I whispered and felt tears smart my eyes.

Sookie's face turned into a mask of grief. She'd lost so much. I was used to the rough battle, but she wasn't, nor was it fair to expect her to become used to it. I pulled her closer and she cried herself to sleep against my chest. I cried with her.

**TBC**

**Quick A/N: This was a short chapter full of info. The Viking will speak next.**


	7. Warrior

**A/N: **Thank you for all your kind reviews. I'm ecstatic that y'all like this story so much.

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**WARRIOR**

_There is no power on the earth which can be compared with him, who was created that he should fear no one.  
__**Malleus Maleficarum**_

In a mad whisper my child informed me that the woman who had told me where to find her was a telepath. I felt grateful enough for her help to choose a different route of escape. I'd have settled for running through the sea of guards that were now starting to converge near us, thumbing my nose at every single one of them, but I decided to do a good deed instead.

Pam and I followed the shifters out the doors to the yard to help with their means of escape. In one swift motion we ripped the doors to use as artillery, and broke a hole through the electric fence. That's when I caught sight of the woman who had helped me. She was looking at us astonished and in awe, but that was not the reason I felt compelled to thank her again. She had been beaten, battered, and still found it in her to help me without recompense. I mouthed a quick "thank you," and gave her an involuntary smile. I took my child in my arms and flew us both out of that hell hole.

"Should we leave?" Pam asked me as we flew. I could hear the anguish in her voice. She hated starting over.

"They have my prints and yours. No matter what we do, if we are apprehended again the authorities will know who we are," I said, not seeing the point of starting anew. At the very least we could tie up loose ends and then move on.

"Where are we going now?"

"My house. It has been a long night and you need to rest. You also need to tell me how in the fucking hell you got caught."

"I'm sorry. I was taking this new little morsel home. They accused me of public feeding, imagining marks on the woman's neck. I never even touched her on the neck," Pam said and shook her head.

It was truly worse than I thought. "Where were you?"

"I was driving on I-20 to Bon Temps." That was the same highway where I had been caught. "They got me about ten miles from Shreveport. They used that sonic thing and I lost control of the car. It is sheer luck that the woman still lives," Pam shook her head some more.

"You saved her?" I was perplexed. My child had seldom shown affection of any kind towards another but me. Not that I was jealous, only curious.

"I like her. She's funny and she's a powerful witch. I'm not a total bitch, you know." Pam crossed her arms over her chest, pretending to be hurt by the assumption laced into my statement. Perhaps she was. "It was pure instinct to save her," she confessed in a lower voice. "I didn't think about it. When I lost control of the car I unbuckled us both and pulled her from the car."

"Instinct?" I repeated, still perplexed. It showed in the tone of my voice. I was not judging. I knew Pam had impeccable timing and good instincts. I simply had not conceived of the idea that her instincts of preservation included her date.

"Some of us like to keep things alive," she said getting defensive.

I got defensive as well. "Are you saying I like to kill things?"

"No," she said quickly. "I'm saying I'm a lot like my maker, who has forgotten who he used to be."

We arrived at my house and entered through the back. I remained silent as I pondered Pam's statement. I knew what she meant, but I had not seen the change until now that she reminded me. I had fought in wars and helped the humans with their wounded. My age and lack of thirst made me the perfect soldier to help. I had helped in Vietnam, Korea, the first and second World Wars, and that was only in this past century or so. I had stopped after Vietnam, but the wars kept raging.

"I grew tired of the waste," I said to Pam as we headed upstairs. She had a room in my house, and that is where I followed her.

"Perhaps there wouldn't be as much of it if you helped," Pam said in a kinder tone. She had helped as well, but her position as a woman and a relatively young vampire had prevented her from doing as much as me. Almost a hundred years has passed since the First World War, and she was not the same vampire.

"This is not my fight," I said without conviction. I belonged to this Earth and I could make a difference. I loved America the way it had been. It was my fight if I chose to fight it.

Pam saw right through me and arched an eyebrow, looking very much like me. I was much more affectionate with her than she was with me, and so she let me hug her and even returned the hug. I had not been able to stand the thought of losing my precious only child. She knew I loved her as a maker and a friend. My attraction to her as a lover had died at around the same time that my love had developed. She had been free to go, but she had remained.

"Thank you for rescuing me," she said. Only with me was she ever open and honest. There was no other way to be for us. Our connection allowed her to feel me as much as I felt her. We seldom closed our bond from the other. That is how I had known she had been in danger.

I left her so she could shower and change in peace, and I did the same. I could not call my Queen and tell her anything, nor did I dare to turn on the internet or TV for fear that the authorities were monitoring those venues. It was too late for me to purchase a phone. Therefore I decided to rest. I had been injured repeatedly that night, and had healed every time. I was tired before I should have been.

I showered, changed, and sank into my comfortable bed after setting all the locks. The alarms would set automatically the minute the sun rose. I still had hope that this house was safe. I had purchased it under a different name, but I wasn't sure how compromised all my ventures were, if at all. I knew neither Pam nor I could visit Fangtasia, and we would have to be careful if we visited others of our kind. Better not to visit, and simply call when I had a phone number that could not be traced.

My thoughts drifted to the telepath as I closed my eyes. I had not met one, but I had heard of them. Telepaths were usually descendants of the only other creatures who could read minds: fairies or elves. I had not seen elves in many centuries, but fairies had abounded up until the industrial revolution, then their numbers had dwindled. Perhaps the woman was related to a fairy that had mated with humans. That would certainly explain her uncommonly sweet scent.

It did not explain her willingness to help. Fairies were notoriously egocentric. What I could not yet understand was why the humans had kept her, and the curiosity nagged at me until I got up from bed and sought Pam. I found her reading a book in bed.

"Why were the humans keeping the telepath?" I asked Pam.

She frowned. It was her turn to be puzzled. "She was being forced to sort between humans and shifters. Why?"

"When was the last time you met a telepath?" I asked her, knowing the answer already.

"Never."

"Neither have I," I said.

I saw Pam's eyes light up in understanding. In my millennium plus of existence I had never encountered a telepathic human. "So, are you saying we need to… what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that first of all some humans are sick not to realize what a gem she is, and instead use her and abuse her. Second, those of us who do realize it must guard her. Power like that in a human is not happenstance. Perhaps she's meant to do more," I knew I was smiling at my own realization because Pam was mirroring my actions.

"Do you want to go look for her?" Pam asked.

"Yes I do."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Your Majesty?" I had finally gotten a hold of my Queen with a disposable phone.

"Eric! I am so happy to hear from you. I thought you had been caught. Listen, I don't have much time so I'll make this quick: all my disclosed assets have been seized by the government. They are systematically accusing all the regents of tax evasion. My party is moving to an undisclosed location and I'm telling all my people to scatter. All the regents are getting together so we can seize the power back, but until I know more I don't want anybody to get caught. I will need everybody's help eventually." Sophie-Anne was talking so fast that to human ears it would have sounded like a mere whisper. She gave me a different phone number and told me to call every week starting Monday night at eight for updates.

With that the whole fledgling kingdom of Louisiana was dissolved and we were adrift once more. At the same time I had called the Queen, Pam had called her friend the witch. We needed to find a telepath on the run, and Pam thought that perhaps a witch might be able to help with a spell. The witch agreed to meet us.

"She says she'll help us. I didn't tell her what we needed help with," Pam said, gathering her things.

The car in my garage was not my beloved Corvette, but it would do. It was an older model Ford Explorer that had served me well when I had needed to blend in. I had kept it simply for the convenience of the trunk space, which the Corvette lacked. I took the back roads to Bon Temps, and the only reason I decided to drive at all was the fact that flying took energy, energy I did not have after all the healing I had done the night before. I would need to feed from a human soon. There was only so much that the synthetic blood could do for me.

We arrived at a modest duplex, and the witch invited us in. Pam introduced us. Her name was Amelia. When I sat on the couch the scent of the telepath enveloped me.

"Excuse me, Amelia; do you know a woman with long blond hair, large blue eyes?" I asked and watched as her expression changed.

She quickly became stoic. "Maybe. But that is a very broad description."

I eyed the witch carefully. Perhaps she knew of Sookie's abilities, and perhaps she did not. I decided to approach the situation from a different angle. I would have to appeal to Amelia's sensibilities. The longer I spent sitting on that couch the more I was certain that the telepath had come to this house and remained for an extended period.

"I should start from the beginning," I said, and told Amelia of the human woman who had helped me while I looked for Pam inside that prison. I told her how I had seen her, beaten and bruised, and that I owed her a debt of gratitude. I did not tell her I knew she was a telepath. "Perhaps you know her. Her scent is in your home."

Amelia lowered her eyes. She knew I spoke the truth, and decided to confide in us. "Look, guys, that's my friend Sookie. She was taken together with her friend Sam, who is a shifter. Someone knew what she could do and kept her in that prison. I'd been trying to come up with a plan to get them out of there, but since you did me the favor, then I guess I owe you too. Plus I want to make sure she's okay. What do you want me to do? Find her?"

At least the witch was honest. I would be honest too. "Yes. It is the least I can do, to keep her safe until this whole affair is over."

Amelia arched a skeptical eyebrow. "On one condition."

"Name it," I said. I already knew her condition. The woman, Sookie, was her friend. I did not need to stretch my imagination that far.

"Take me with you," Amelia said. The witch was bold. I liked her.

"Done."

**TBC**

**A/N: So… I changed Eric's history, and definitely Pam's, to fit into this AU. I hope that didn't come as a surprise or anything.**


	8. Resistance

**A/N: **You guys! You are all so wonderful. I truly mean it from the bottom of my heart. I get so many alerts letting me know how much you love this story (well… all my stories, really) and I cherish every single one of them. Okay, so… y'all remember I said that things were going to get worse before they get better? They're getting worse…

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**RESISTANCE**

Sam woke me, shaking me gently and saying something about getting breakfast. It took me a moment to decipher his words. I was disoriented and felt scared. Sam asked again if I was hungry and wanted breakfast.

"Yes," I said to both questions, sitting up with effort.

"Okay, cher. I'll be back in a little bit," he said and kissed my forehead before leaving.

I didn't move from where I was sitting for a long time. I felt more tired than ever, like I hadn't slept at all, though I knew I had. I was hungry but didn't have any appetite. Everything I imagined eating didn't hold any appeal. I wanted to curl back in bed and close my eyes, let the blackness of sleep drag me under again so that I didn't have to remember anything. I'd been ready to die not two nights ago. I wasn't feeling that way anymore, but I felt like my absence would hurt no one.

I shook myself mentally, thinking of Sam, Jason, Amelia, thinking of Gran. Wherever Gran was, seeing me like this would break her heart. I had to make an effort and get up, and when Sam returned with food I would have to force myself to eat. This feeling of worthlessness would not last forever. I moved slowly and decided to take a quick shower. I was still clean from the day before, but taking a shower would at least get me moving. Gran always said that whenever we were sick we should make sure to bathe. It might not help with whatever ailed us, but it would make us feel better about ourselves.

The bathtub was clean and smelled of bleach. Could be worse. The whole room looked like it had seen better days, but that someone had taken care to clean it thoroughly.

"Any port in a storm," I mumbled and turned on the water. The pressure was not the best, but I didn't need to wash my hair or anything. I soaped up, rinsed, and felt marginally better when I turned off the water. I reached for the towel and as I did my foot slid. My legs were still too sore from riding on Sam's back and did not respond to the command to hold me up. In slow motion I felt myself falling, hitting my thigh on the edge of the tub and landing half in, half out. I cried out in pain and then started crying in earnest.

To add insult to injury, Sam burst in to help. I was hysterical as Sam lifted me and covered me with a towel, making me sit on the toilet lid while he checked me over.

"Did you hit your head? Are you bleeding? Answer me, Sookie," he was yelling over my sobs, making himself be heard.

"I'm fine!" I yelled back before crying some more and wanting to be left alone. Sam wasn't having any of it, and began drying me with the other towel. I saw him examining my skin. I sobered up quickly. "I'm better. You can go," I said and tried to grab the towel from him.

Sam looked up with something that looked like pity in his eyes. "What did they do to you?" he asked in a quiet voice.

I didn't need his pity. I didn't need his help. I was a grown woman, and even if he felt some sort of responsibility for me, he was nobody to me. We had gone on one date, and he had kissed me once. He was no longer my boss so I owed him nothing. I snatched the towel from his hands with a lot of effort. "Leave me alone," I said, injecting my voice with as much venom as I could muster.

He straightened up and crossed his arms over his chest. "No. You and I are going to talk and you're going to tell me what happened."

I saw red. When I spoke again my voice came out high and shrill. "Absolutely not, Sam Merlotte! Even if it were any of your business, which it isn't, I will not go reliving everything I just went through just to satisfy your curiosity. So forget you saw anything and let me get dressed in peace!"

"Fine! Don't tell me anything, but don't say it isn't any of my business because you _are_ my business and I care, Sookie! Grow up!" And with that he left me.

I fumed in silence. I didn't have to tell him anything. How would that help anyway? He couldn't turn back time and couldn't make it better. It would only make him mad and make me sad. I didn't need him to be an overprotective freak over me.

Breakfast turned into a silent affair. We watched the news. The world had gone to hell in such a short time that it was hard for me to wrap my head around it all. Reporters were saying that vampires had disappeared. Over the past two nights every vampire-owned business had closed, and businesses catering to vampires – most notably, stores that specialized in blood substitutes – had not seen any traffic. The whole race had gone into hiding again. After millennia of doing just that, their disappearance over a night or two was not that surprising to me. They were fast, I'd give them that. I wondered if Bill was all right. And what ever happened to the vampires that had helped us escape?

"I wonder what the vampires are up to?" Sam wondered out loud.

"You think they're up to something other than self-preservation?" I asked, getting up and throwing away the container from breakfast. Sam had brought me eggs and sausage with toast. I'd eaten everything because I wasn't sure if we would stop again before resting for the night.

"I'm sure of it," Sam answered. We were getting ready to leave. "They didn't make themselves known to simply give it all up now. I hope the humans know what's coming."

From what we heard on the radio, the humans did not know what was coming. The official story was that vampires had disappeared from the United States. Other countries, vampire-friendly countries like Canada and the United Kingdom were pressuring the U.S. President to disclose the location of the million or so registered vampires that had disappeared. The President had to give a press conference assuring his country that the vampires were not being held anywhere, that neither he nor his government knew the vampires' whereabouts.

During the same press conference, one of the reporters asked about the government's joint venture with the Fellowship of the Sun to build and use concentration camps to contain the supernatural population. I felt chills down my spine when I heard the answer.

"There is no proof that there are any concentration camps inside the United States. That is barbaric and we are a free country where everyone is innocent until proven guilty. We do have some new holding facilities especially designed for people of a supernatural race when they are apprehended for breaking the law. But that is all they are. The people being held inside have the same rights as everyone else in this country," said the President. He probably continued his speech or answering questions or what-have-you but I had stopped listening.

I looked out the window at the changing landscape. Sam had driven the whole time and had declined my offer to drive. Since we were taking the back roads, everything moved much slower than on a highway, so we didn't get to the Alabama border until nighttime. We had only stopped to use the restroom and get something to drink. My lack of appetite was apparent, but so was Sam's.

Nevertheless, when my stomach complained, Sam immediately started looking for places to eat and spend the night. He found a small inn that had a diner right next to it. It would have been perfect, but I couldn't show my face in public yet. Sam got us a room and made sure I was settled before he went next door to get food for us. Having nothing better to do, I turned on the TV to CNN, so I could get the national news, not just the local.

"There are reports that several military bases throughout the United States have been plunged into darkness. We have a live picture of Andrews Air Force Base in Suitland, Maryland, and from the outside we can see that everything is dark. The gates are closed and there are no guards at any of the entrances. This is serious, folks! Andrews houses the President's airplane, Air Force One, as well as the Vice President's," the newscaster paused, and a good thing too because I was trying to pick up my jaw from where it landed. He seemed to be looking off at someone behind the camera, his expression changing quickly from professional curiosity to fear. He moved out of his chair and the camera panned and zoomed on someone who was walking to take his seat. The caption under the man said that he was some head honcho from CNN.

The man held up a piece of paper, to read from it. "CNN's main correspondent in the White House just sent us this note via fax. The Senate, Congress, and the Vice President have all been taken hostage by unidentified groups of supernatural people. The President is still free and in negotiation with ten former vampire regents. The President's whereabouts have not been confirmed, but it is believed that he was indeed inside the White House when this occurred. Do we have a visual?" the man asked of someone behind the camera.

Sam came in with food at the same time that the picture changed on the TV. "What did I miss?" he asked breathless.

I could only point at the TV. It was the picture of a dark city. "Our sources tell us that several Pepco relay stations have been destroyed and Washington D.C. is now dark. We urge the residents of nearby towns in Maryland and Virginia to stay in their homes until this matter is resolved. We expect looting and rioting in the few coming minutes, so residents of D.C., if they can hear this broadcast, must remain indoors," the CNN guy said.

Sam blew out a low whistle and set the food on the table. Something inside me fixed itself. I knew what was going on, and I was rooting for the "bad guys." If the vampires could come to some sort of an agreement, even through intimidation, then so be it. The humans had not done any better.

The smell of food called to me and I drifted over and sat, waiting for Sam to hand me whatever he'd brought me. It was not the most delicious burger I'd ever had, but at that particular moment it tasted like heaven. I even mashed the French fries inside it. I ate everything and drank half the large bottle of Coke he'd brought. I immediately felt better. Revenge. Revenge was good. May God forgive me for wanting it and needing it.

I brushed my teeth and returned to the room feeling ten times better than I had. Sam noticed the change and gave me a tentative smile. "Are you okay?" he asked.

I thought about it briefly. "I'm not a hundred percent, but I'm much better," I put my hands on my hips and nodded with a satisfied smile.

Sam smiled back. "Good. You were beginning to worry me, sweetheart," he said and sat back in his chair. It was as if a very large weight had been removed from his shoulders. My good mood darkened a bit by guilt. He'd been truly worried about me and I'd pushed him away.

"I'm sorry, Sam. I'm not used to having people worry about me," I said and sat at the foot of the bed, taking off my sneakers and socks, thinking I should wash the socks now so they'd be dry by the morning.

"I don't believe that," he said in a quiet tone.

I looked up. I knew what he meant. "I put up a good front of self-sufficiency. I would be too lonely if I didn't."

"So, in other words, you pretend to be self-sufficient for your own benefit?"

"Something like that. I haven't shared much of my life with anyone because I don't like pity, and I gotta say that when I saw the pity in your eyes it was like you threw a bucket of ice cold water over me. If I need help, I ask for it."

"Won't you ask for it now?" he asked, getting up and sitting beside me. He rubbed my back trying to soothe me. His thoughts were hazy still but they were laced with contrition. I wasn't sure if he was feeling sorry for me, or sorry for upsetting me.

"When I need help, I ask for it," I repeated, but my voice came out in a breath, unsure. Did I ask for help when I needed it? Not often.

Sam took my chin between his fingers and moved my face to look at him. Or, rather, he wanted to look at me, at the bruises on my face, the ones I couldn't hide. I looked at his eyes, which were now roaming over every single feature, bruise, and detail on my face. He got closer and brushed his lips over the gash on my cheek. Then he moved his kiss to the hollow between my eye and my cheek, where I had another bruise. He pulled away and ran his thumb over my lips. I could see clearly his intention. It had not gone past a kiss. I allowed it, needing to be close to someone, needing to feel cherished if only for one brief moment.

The moment his lips alighted on mine I knew he wanted to go further. I couldn't allow it. I pulled away. "I can't do that, Sam," I said. He knew I'd read his mind. It had been impossible not to, since he'd been touching me. He'd been thinking about it so loudly that I actually read it clearly off his shifter brain.

"I'm sorry, Sookie. It's not the best time, I know. I've been meaning to tell you for some time that I'm falling in love with you, and I don't think now's the time to hide it. Now may not be the best time to work on a relationship, but at least now you know how I feel," he said. There was hurt rolling off him, like being unable to kiss me had pained him. I hated that I had done that to him. I didn't want to hurt him. I put my hand on his and closed my fingers around it. He brought it up and kissed it.

"Nothing happened to me," I confessed. He knew what I meant, but I decided to elaborate. "Nobody touched me, they only beat me. They threatened me with rape but they didn't get a chance to follow through." The last sentence came out in nothing but a whisper. Sam needed to understand, though, why I had to push him away. Losing my virginity after holding on to it for so long was not something I took lightly. Sam may have been falling in love with me, but I wasn't sure how I felt about him yet. I loved him as a friend, but that was it.

He caressed my hair and rested his hand on my neck. My eyes moved back to his face and he smiled a sad smile. "Can I kiss you?"

I nodded and he closed the gap before I could change my mind. His kiss was tentative, slow and soft. He took a deep breath, and I felt his tongue asking permission of my mouth. I opened for him, even knowing this could lead to disaster. His tongue found mine but didn't do more than caress it gently. He pulled away and put his forehead against mine. "Thank you," he said.

That night my dreams took a different turn. I dreamt of the kiss, but the kisser had been someone different. I got lost inside the turquoise eyes of a blond vampire man, the man who had been our glowing knight. I let him kiss me the same way that Sam had kissed me. I let him touch me, and I agreed to let him drink blood from me. The moment his fangs touched my neck I woke up with a start.

It was daytime. The clock said it was 6:39 a.m. Sam muttered something from his side of the bed. He was still asleep. I closed my eyes again, but I was too wired. I got up and turned on the news.

"Citizens who are not supernatural are at the highest risk," the newscaster said. I'd caught him mid-sentence and I became nervous. _Highest risk for what?_ "Again we encourage all to please remain in your homes until we know more about the situation."

"Sam!" I shook him. He needed to hear this too, whatever it was.

He sat up in a sleepy frenzy. "What? ! Are you okay?"

"Something's happening out there," I pointed out the windows. "We need to listen," I pointed to the TV. It was best to keep it simple with a sleepy person.

The newscaster had taken a break. There were no commercials, just dead air. When he returned he looked haggard. "Reports from the White House point to a complete coups d'état by the supernaturals of the whole United States. The United States is now a military state. All the military bases have been shut down, and we have only limited communication with other countries. We are getting word that people are being abducted, and that citizens who are not supernatural are at the highest risk."

Sam's sharp intake of breath was all I needed to hear to know that the situation was a tad worse than dire. This was BAD. He looked at me and God only knew what he saw because he felt the need to shush me and caress my hair in a soothing motion. I'd been imagining another stint at a prison.

"You're with me. I'll keep you safe. I don't think there's any need to continue heading north, what do you think?" he asked and smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"You mean we can go home?" I asked, just to make sure I understood.

"The supernaturals are not going to be looking for either of us. Let's make the most of this and go home."

I nodded but couldn't help being scared. I was reminded of a third world country that had turned military state. So many people died in those situations. It could become very dangerous very quickly, and we didn't have any weapons or anything to defend ourselves. I was only a telepath with bad luck, hanging out with a shape shifter who, no matter how strong he was, was not immune to bullets.

With a prayer on my lips, we set to go back home.

**TBC**

**A/N: Geography lesson: Suitland, Maryland, is about 15 minutes from the nation's capital, and where AAFB is located. The President travels to Andrew's to get on his plane. We also get an amazing show every Memorial Day weekend (last weekend in May) with the Blue Angels and a really amazing air show. My company is right under its flight path, so we get a free show... and yes, I've seen AF1 flying overhead on ocassion.**

**For those of you who don't know the lingo, relay stations carry electricity from a main power plant to different areas. They convert it to something that can be used. That said, you can cut off electricity to a certain area by merely disabling relay stations (IF you know where they are). There's no need to shut down a whole power plant (although in the real world, disabling relay stations MIGHT shut down the power plant anyway). SOOO... for those of you NOT from Maryland, in parts of Maryland and all of DC the main power supplier's name is Pepco. My company does work for them.**

**See? Longer chapter! Siberian Shewolf came to do my dishes while I wrote. MamaSebring… will you cook? *runs away giggling***


	9. Take Me With You

**A/N: **We're going back in time a couple of nights. Sookie is with Sam in Mississippi. The vampires are beginning to go into hiding TONIGHT. They have not attacked the bases yet. That happens TOMORROW.

* * *

**TAKE ME WITH YOU**

Finding someone was an easy enough spell, and Pam's maker was serious about finding Sookie. So was I. We had a common goal. Save the telepath. Save my best friend. Sookie had already gone through too much shit in her life before getting kidnapped by those Fellowship fuckers. Besides, if I found Sookie, I would find Jason and Sam. I was sure of it. They would be with her. At least, I hoped so. That was my main fear: that Jason and Sam were not with Sookie and she was by herself trying to keep safe. Alone.

"I need to go to Sookie's house and get some personal items," I said to Pam. I was a little scared of her maker. No matter if he was a hunk, he was still big and bad. All vampires were, right? "I don't know if her house is being watched or what…"

"We'll take you," the big guy interrupted. "If there's somebody there, we'll take care of it," he said, and seemed to force a smile. What he really wanted to do was snarl, I could tell.

"Way to go on the revenge thing," I said. "Let me get my things. It would be better to do the spell there too if we can."

"Thanks, Amelia," Pam said as I walked away. _She_ remembered her manners.

I gathered my things and put them inside what looked like a diaper bag. There really wasn't anything better to hold all my things. Thankfully I'd found one in black, instead of one with Snoopy on it. That would have looked unprofessional.

We rode in the big guy's old truck. For a vampire he didn't have the choicest ride, but who was I to talk. I had a Kia. At least my Kia was newer. As soon as we got to Sookie's house I knew somebody had been in it. I could feel it in the air. I wasn't a witch for nothing.

"Guys, I can't invite you in because this isn't my house, but you need to see if there's anybody inside before I go in. How do we do that?" I asked getting my things. I wasn't wasting any more time.

"We'll follow you as close as we can and listen for any intruders," Big Guy said.

"Okay. Let's go!" They followed me. I got the spare key Sookie's Gran always kept under the second flower pot on the left, opened the door and replaced the key. I knew for sure this house had seen people very, very recently, maybe even that same day. I waited patiently while the vampires listened. I think I held my breath, but I couldn't stop my heartbeats.

"It's empty," Pam declared and I went inside. They remained on their spots in the porch. From the sudden creaking noise I heard, I was pretty sure that Big Guy had sat on the porch swing. I went straight for Sookie's bedroom and got her pillow. It was sure to have dead skin cells and oils that hadn't been washed yet. I noticed the closet had been left open. That was very unlike her. I looked around the house and found her grandmother's jewelry case open and pieces of jewelry scattered on the dresser, but not hither and thither. It seemed like someone had sorted through things. In the kitchen I found the famous kitty had been ransacked too. That's when I knew Sookie had been here after her escape.

"This is great guys! Sookie was here recently. We can follow her trail from here," I called out. I knew the vampires could hear me from the back of the house.

I ran outside, gathering all my things and setting up on the driveway. The phase of the moon was important, and I was working with a waxing gibbous moon. Not exactly ideal, but it could have been worse. It could have been a waxing crescent or a new moon. That would have guaranteed this spell was not going to work. Either way it meant I needed to do the whole spell from start to finish with nothing in my mind but Sookie's face. I ran back inside and got a picture she had stuck on the mirror above her dresser. It was us on her birthday, so it was perfect. Recent enough in my memory still, and she was only a month older now.

"Pam, can you help me? I need you to hold this photo in front of me the whole time I do the spell," I said and Pam was in front of me in half a jiffy. I was glad we were all on the same page.

I got the compass, the pillow, the candle and the herbs. Pam was holding the photo. I got my wand and set to work. As I formed the intent the force of the earth beneath me began coursing through me, pulsing through my veins and lending me a hand. It formed a sort of cocoon around me, a blanket of energy and magic. I chanted the words of worship; I intoned the spell and imbued the compass with Sookie's essence from her personal item. All the while I stared at Sookie's photo in Pam's hands. I returned the energy back to the earth and let go of the magic. It was done.

"Is it complete?" Big Guy asked.

"Yes. The compass will show the way to Sookie. Whoever holds it will get information on her whereabouts." I picked up the small cylinder and concentrated. She was inside a hotel room. "She's safe right now, and she's… due east."

"May I?" Big Guy asked. I handed it to him. Weird that, even though he was scary, I trusted he wanted to find Sookie and keep her safe. I wasn't usually wrong about things like that. I watched as he closed his eyes and concentrated. He sucked in his breath and when he opened his eyes, he looked surprised. "It was as if I'd been looking through her eyes. She's with a man."

I frowned. "Shit! What did he look like?"

"Reddish blond hair, goatee, blue eyes, long nose…"

I interrupted with a sigh of relief. "She's with Sam, thank the goddess. Okay, let's go!"

The vampires wasted no time. We set the compass inside a doohickey part of the truck where Eric could see it as he drove. I regretted not bringing a change of clothes, but we were in a time crunch. I hoped these vampires remembered I was human and needed to pee and eat, at least. And they would need to stop and go somewhere safe during the day. Okay, we'd cross that bridge when we got there. For now I was getting acquainted with the fact that even though Big Guy's truck was old, it still kicked ass. He must have kept up with all the scheduled maintenance and oil changes.

We drove until five in the morning and had to stop. The sun would come up soon and the vampires needed time to find shelter, and to find me a place to rest. I was dead tired, no pun intended. Oh, hell! I intended the pun, who was I kidding?

We stopped at a regular hotel. It was easy because I was a regular human. Pam handed me cash to pay for a room for me, and she said to make myself comfortable, that they would come get me right after sunset.

The hotel lobby was deserted (big duh on that one), but the clerk didn't think it was so weird that my "husband" and I were exhausted after driving all night to get here. The hotel had a room available and ready. It all seemed too easy until I remembered what vampires could do. Big Guy was glamouring the clerk. I was the idiot who hadn't caught on, but in my defense I was sleep walking already. The clerk handed me a key card and sent me on my way. I left quickly before I could see what else Big Guy had in store for the clerk. One or the other moaned as the elevator doors opened. Yuk! I turned around and caught a glimpse of Big Guy feeding on the clerk's neck. There was something erotic about it. I watched as long as I could and then the doors to the elevator closing in my face reminded me that I better pick a floor.

I couldn't crash. I had a sudden Sookie-like burst of energy and decided to wash my underwear and socks at least. They would dry by sunset. Only then was I able to give in to sleep. It was almost six. I woke up at two thanks to a complaining tummy. There were several places to get food around the three-star hotel, so I could go pick something up easily. I took a shower and gave my underwear a pass with the hair dryer, just in case, and set out in search of food. I didn't find anything open. Everything was closed at almost three in the afternoon. How could that be? Something was off, seriously messed up. I found a pharmacy that was open, and they had a few grocery items. I stocked up on non-perishables. I was able to get paper plates and utensils, cereal, canned things that didn't require a can opener. I only got a few things, but enough for several meals. If there was something I knew how to do was to buy the most amounts of calories for the least amount of money. It was a handy skill to have when you were broke.

Back in my room I turned on the news, to see what was going on. The president was giving a press conference about how he didn't know where the vampires where. Every vampire-owned business had shut down. Judging solely by the fact that the owners of Fangtasia in Shreveport were now spending the day buried somewhere under Bumfuck, Mississippi, I would believe it. I held my compass and concentrated. Sookie was in a car, moving. "Fuck, shit! Stay the fuck put! Why does she never listen to me?"

Sookie and Sam were on the move, God only knew to where or how fast. Actually, the "where" part was probably on their way to Alabama. The compass was pointing east-northeast. I knew their ultimate goal would be to reach at least New Jersey. "Stink it up for Jersey," I mumbled. It was the closest state that didn't require supes to register.

Sunset couldn't come fast enough, but as soon as there was no trace of the sun there was a knock on my door. Big Guy and Pam were DIRTY, all capitalized. "May we use your shower?" Pam asked looking at her maker in disgust, even though he didn't look as dirty as her. They really _had_ spent the day underground.

"Knock yourselves out, but make it quick. Sookie and Sam were on the move towards Alabama and all mess of shit is hitting the fan now that you guys disappeared," I said, collecting my food and putting it all back in the bags.

Big Guy let Pam take a shower first and came to sit on a chair by the table, where I was sitting. "May I?" he asked pointing at the compass.

"Okay, Big Guy, but don't get it dirty," I said and put it in his mostly clean hand.

"My name is Eric," he corrected.

"Look, are you big? And are you a guy? Then you're Big Guy as much as you're Eric," I said. Sassing a vampire wasn't my wisest moment, but I was nervous about Sookie. Oddly enough, he only smiled a strange half smile. He closed his eyes and concentrated, then handed me back the compass.

"They seem to be traveling," he said with a serious expression.

"Then they've been on the road since God knows when," I muttered feeling very nervous. We needed to catch up to them. Soon. Everything was going to hell too quickly to leave Sookie in the care of only Sam. Not that I trusted the vampires a hundred percent, but they were the better option until I could figure out something different.

Pam emerged after only five minutes and Eric went right in. She looked beautiful naked, with a tiny waist and pear shaped breasts. She'd been turned just a month before her twentieth birthday. She dressed as she watched the news. Now was not the time for my ogling. Five minutes later, Big Guy came out naked too.

"Well, hello!" I mumbled. I was certainly ogling at him. Holy crap! He was something else. He caught me too, and gave me a devilish smile before getting dressed. Alright, gorgeous and aware of it. That was a deadly combination that all vampires seemed to share. I'd been a fool to think it had only been Pam.

Ten minutes later we were tearing rubber down the dark highways and byways of Mississippi, trying to follow Sookie's trail. At around nine we had to stop to get gas, and while Eric let the guzzler fill up he held the compass to see what Sookie was up to. He hissed and put the compass back as if it was hot.

"What? WHAT?" I asked very afraid of the answer. I leaned over the front seats to look at him.

"Nothing. They're in a hotel, it seems. They've stopped for the night," he said, and seemed to be rearranging his features with effort.

"Don't tell me it's nothing! You hissed. Y'all don't hiss unless there's something wrong," I accused him.

Pam nodded. "Eric, please. Was something wrong?"

"Sookie was… they were… I think the shifter was kissing her," Eric said finally.

I threw myself forward to grab the compass. This was very unlike Sookie. What the hell was she doing having sex in the middle of freakin' Armageddon? I closed my hand around the compass and concentrated. They weren't kissing. They were moving away from each other.

"Oh, thank the goddess," I said, letting out a big breath. Once that was settled I wondered at Eric's reaction. What the hell was that all about? Was he getting the hots for Sookie? Figures, too. The poor girl couldn't date regular, so she ended up dating the dead or furry. But what was I saying? No, really, Eric? I rethought Eric's intentions, and I could see that Pam was doing the same thing. She'd crossed her arms over her chest and was eyeing him with an expression that said something like "uh-huh!"

"What did you see?" Eric asked, pretending to look disinterested. He didn't fool me.

"They were going to bed," I said, leaving my statement purposefully vague. Damn it all if I didn't see a little glint of malice in his eyes before he reined in his emotions. I couldn't stand it. I was mean, but not about that kind of thing. "They were getting ready for sleep, nothing else," I qualified.

Pam burst out laughing. She'd seen the same thing I had: Big Guy's eyes widened just the tiniest bit in relief. Yeah… he had a thing for Sookie. I didn't know where Sookie's photo had gone after I'd been done with the spell on the compass, but I was willing to bet it was inside one of Eric's pockets.

Eric drove like a bat out of hell from then on. The news was bad all around. The supes had taken over every military base. There were around a million _registered_ vampires, and probably another million unregistered, from what Pam said as we drove. Some of the regents had gone to "negotiate" with the President, but that was code for… actually, I hated to think of what they had done. Hopefully nothing, because another country wouldn't hesitate to blow the U.S. to kingdom come in order to quash the uprising. The supes had cut off DC from the rest of the country, which was a huge mistake. DC was a mostly-poor quasi-state. Poor people have a tendency to riot or loot when things start looking dire. Like Sookie used to say, this was a tad bit worse than dire. This was BAD. Goddess, I missed her!

"If the supes take over there is no telling what the shifters will do. The Weres in particular have me worried," Big Guy mused from the driver's seat.

"Why?" I asked, needing a heck of a whole lot more information than I was getting.

"Because Weres have a tendency to abuse power once they have it. No other supernatural race is like that, and unfortunately Weres are the most numerous," he answered in a grave voice. He was worried. Imagine that… a vampire worried about the world he lived in. Maybe I _had_ been right to trust him, huh?

We drove in silence for the rest of the night, listening to report after report of localized resistance or downright uprising. Big Guy shook his head once in a while, in disbelief, probably.

One of the broadcasts sent chills down my spine and I almost puked right inside Big Guy's truck. The newscaster even had to give a warning before reading the report over the radio. _"The body of Reverend Steven Newlin, founder of the Fellowship of the Sun, was found this evening behind his house in a wealthy suburb of Dallas. His head had been impaled on a spike, his body disemboweled, and initial reports state that some of his intestines were found inside his mouth. This does not initially appear to be the work of a vampire. Newlin's blood was used to smear the word 'bigot' on every side of the house."_

"Are you okay?" Pam asked me while I turned every shade of green.

"Can you turn the air conditioner to arctic? I need some cold air," I said, fanning myself and taking deep breaths to keep the nausea at bay. The report wasn't over.

"_Many people have come forward to testify that they had been held in concentration camps and that many supernaturals died at the hands of the so-called 'joint venture' between the Fellowship of the Sun and the Federal government. They describe tales of torture and death, not unlike Newlin's own. Rape, mutilation and torture were used against the supernaturals…" _There was a pause, like the radio guy was being given some more bad news to read. _"Sources say that an impromptu lab was created to test the supernaturals abilities. The lab, based inside the NIH headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, was mainly used to gather information regarding vampires' regenerative abilities as well as the development of certain special powers that some seem possess but not others. All the test subjects have been released in various states of health, ranging from catatonic to missing limbs, drained to absolutely healthy. Some deaths have been reported…"_

Eric turned off the radio. I could tell he'd been about to hurt the steering wheel. "Humans brought this on themselves," he said after a moment.

I was sure that what he called "this" was the end of the world. "No shit, Sherlock!"

**TBC**

**A/N: I'm a tease. Those of you who've read AAD know this about me. Anyhoo, I'll post soon, I promise.**

**NIH stands for the National Intitutes of Health in the U.S., part of the Department of Health and Human Services. In the real world they conduct a lot of good research.**

**One more note… I left the hotel clerk's gender intentionally vague. Was it a man or a woman? I'm not going back to that, so it doesn't really matter to me. I just wanted y'all to imagine whatever you wanted to imagine.**


	10. Unforgiven

**A/N:** This was a very difficult chapter to write. I was postponing it for as long as I could, until it needed to come out or drive me crazy. If it was difficult for me to write, I can only guess it will be difficult to read…

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**UNFORGIVEN**

I had known it was too much too hope for a safe trip back home so we could hunker down and welcome the end of the world properly. About twenty minutes after we left the hotel Sam had to stop the truck in front of a roadblock. Several people, men and women, dressed in fatigues and holding very large shotguns had used police cars to block the road. They were not cops.

My poor heart would burst one of these days from fear or heartbreak. Right now it was jumping inside my chest like a scared rabbit and I felt my throat closing up. What did this people want? Were they human or supes? With the sudden rush of adrenaline flooding my body I felt like running the hell out of there and wished I had vampire speed. I cowered into my seat as one of the men approached Sam's truck. Sam rolled down the window and smiled good-naturedly, probably the right response no matter what these people were.

"Where are you headed?" the man asked. He looked to be in his thirties, big and brawny, who maybe did manual labor like construction or farming. He was white, but his face was tanned and lined from spending many years under the sun.

"We're going back home to Louisiana," Sam answered. It was kind of obvious, since his truck had Louisiana tags and we were heading west.

"What kind of shifter are you?" the man asked. He asked the question in a business-like way. He was either fishing for information or he knew for sure that Sam was a shifter. I felt like the bottom was dropping from my stomach.

To my great amazement, Sam answered. "I'm a true shape shifter," he said and kept looking at the man. Without taking his eyes away he said, "Werelion."

The man let out a big guffaw. Well, that explained that. He was a shifter and of course knew Sam was a shifter too. I honestly didn't know how they could tell, other than by scent, maybe. The man sobered up eventually.

"Name's Jeff," he stuck his hand through Sam's window.

"Sam, and my girlfriend Sookie," Sam said shaking Jeff's hand. I was still too nervous to correct him. For all I knew he was just trying to keep me safe.

"See here, Sam. It's better if you stick with us for a little while," Jeff was very serious now, and I could tell from his brain waves that he was feeling a bit fearful as well. "There's been some violence in Mississippi with the Weres taking over Jackson and some other areas. They're taking humans like your girlfriend there and selling them for food to the vampires. The shifters in this area we've banded together to protect our human families," Jeff took a deep breath and his frown intensified. "Listen, the best thing right now is to stay put. We are staying at a farm for now, and there's plenty of room for everybody. We don't mind having two more if it'll save some more people."

Sam turned his head to look at me. I must have looked like I was about to bug out of my skin. Selling humans for food? I believed Jeff. There was nothing in his brain that pointed at any kind of deception, and that scared me. He was telling the absolute truth.

"I think we should stay," I said in no more than a whisper.

"Okay, Sookie. You heard the lady," Sam said to Jeff.

"Good, good," Jeff said, and he actually looked relieved. "Go on and make a right down this dirt road and keep following it until you come up to the house. When you see Judy tell her Baby Boy sent you," Jeff said and smiled at me, mostly.

"Thanks, man," Sam said and shook hands again. We were driving down the dirt road in no time, nothing to see for at least two miles but fields and fields of cotton, the white tufts still attached to the boll.

As soon as we stopped at the front of the house, a pretty black lady with a wide smile came running out of the house chasing a whole gaggle of kids out the door. Sam and I got out of the truck. I was feeling better for the presence of children.

"Are you Judy?" I asked, since I was closest.

"Oh, my word! What happened to you?" the woman came right over to me and put her hands on my cheeks. Immediately her thoughts transferred. It was amazing that she pretty much guessed I'd been imprisoned. I didn't know what to say, but I didn't have to say anything. "Come on, I have something that will take care of that. I'm Judy," she said, took my hand and pulled me inside the large farmhouse.

"Thank you. Jeff said to tell you that Baby Boy sent us," I said to her, taking in the cozy house.

"Oh, that Jeff! He likes that nickname," Judy laughed. I could tell from her thoughts that she thought of herself as his mother, even though she was only twelve years older than Jeff. She thought everyone was her child, actually. We sat at a kitchen table and she immediately set a glass of cold lemonade in front of each of us.

"Now you know I'm Judy. What are your names?" she asked as she turned away from us to look inside a cupboard.

"I'm Sookie and this is Sam," I answered, since I was the one doing the talking now, apparently. Sam was gulping his lemonade noisily.

"And where are you from? Not from here, of we would have come across Sam by now," Judy said. She must have been a shifter too.

"We're from Louisiana. We were trying to go back home when Jeff told us what was going on in Mississippi," Sam finally added to the conversation.

"It's not only in Mississippi, I'm afraid. It's happening everywhere, wherever there's a market, and believe me there's a market for humans. Sorry, Sookie. It's better you stay here for now until the situation becomes better," she sighed. "Only the good Lord knows when that will be."

I hung my head staring at the condensation on my glass of lemonade. It was no use risking myself after Jason and Sam had saved me. I could feel the sincerity coming from Judy, and a little bit of her fear.

"Judy, may I ask, what kind of shifter are you?" I asked shyly, wondering if she would tell me.

"I'm a werelion, like Jeff. All the people you saw out on the road are werelions. The children you saw belong to a couple of werelynxes, but the kids are too small to shift yet. They had twins for their first birth, can you believe it?" Judy asked.

This meant something to Sam, but absolutely nothing to me. Sam explained, "Only the firstborn of a shifter couple become shifters. If the firstborns are twins, then both of them will be shifters."

"Oh! How interesting," I said, glad that the subject had turned to shifter magic. I didn't want to hear anymore about how everything was crumbling around us.

Judy came to me with a pomade of something that smelled kind of nice, like jasmine mixed with witch hazel. She applied it to my face with a cotton ball, then handed me the little bottle. "Once every two hours until all of that has disappeared. You'll be your beautiful self in no time," she said in a soft voice.

Judy said the bedrooms were taken, but that the house had a large attic and a basement that had been partitioned, and there was room in either. I told her I preferred the attic, and she said she understood. I'd rather stare at exposed wooden beams than concrete walls. We brought our things inside and Judy showed us the communal bathrooms for the upstairs, and told us now was the time to use the laundry room if we had anything, since everybody had already washed all their stuff.

"With kids running around, we're constantly doing laundry," she'd laughed.

Sam I and I didn't have a lot of dirty clothes, but I went ahead and washed everything anyway, finding solace in that simple task. I helped with dinner, since apparently I was the only one of the group who could cook like Judy. She thanked me profusely for the help. When we all sat around the large farmhouse table for dinner, that's when I met everybody.

Jeff and his wife Christine were the owners of the farm. Christine looked almost the same as Jeff: large, friendly, with tanned skin and wrinkles at the corners of her eyes when she smiled. The werelynx couple was Gary and Nicole, and their kids (whose names I could not remember for the life of me – there were too many). Jeff's cousin was Heather, a young woman of about my age who didn't like to smile as much as Jeff. She was also a werelion. Her boyfriend was an actual Were, Derek. He didn't like the present company. I got that much off his brain. Judy and her husband Joseph worked on the farm, and they had their only child with them, a tall teenager with his dad's name who went with the nickname Joe.

We were told the story of how they came about the police cruisers. They had been left on the side of the road not too far from the farm. Someone said they believed the cops were no more, or had been taken by Weres. Derek huffed at that statement, but didn't say anything else.

"Come on, let's talk about something more pleasant during dinner," Christine said, and the conversation turned into a gush-fest at my culinary skills. I was not better than Judy, not by a long shot, but apparently I made a mean apple pie. I turned beet red at the sudden compliments. That night I felt accomplished and the good kind of tired. I hadn't felt that way for a long, long time.

Sam tucked me in that night, asking if it was okay for him to go talk to the rest of the household about what was going on.

"Of course," I said. "I'm not your keeper," I added. He didn't need to ask me permission for anything.

"Sookie," he gave an exasperated sigh. "We're together in this. I was not going to leave you alone without telling you where I was going." He lied next to me on the small bed, getting close so he could fit. "Are you okay, cher?"

"Yes and no," I answered sincerely. I knew we were relatively safe here in this farmhouse, accepted and cared for by a group of people who truly did care. The rest of the world was very scary.

"Do you want to leave?" he asked in a low voice.

"No, I think we should stay until we know more about what's going on," I answered sincerely then added, "If that's okay with you."

"I'm just trying to keep you safe as best I can," he said and leaned close. I knew he was looking for a kiss. He was broadcasting the images rather loudly.

I thought about it briefly and gave in, looking up to let Sam touch his lips to mine. At first the kiss was as tender as the others, soft and warm. When I felt his tongue again I opened my mouth for him and began exploring him like he did to me. Sam took it as an invitation, and deepened the kiss. His hand moved from where he was holding mine between us, down my arm to rest on my waist. He pulled me into his body and I felt how warm he was. I also felt a hardness between us, and I had to push him away.

"No, Sam, I can't!" I said, catching my breath. "I can't," I said again.

"Why, Sookie? What did I do now?" Sam asked annoyed.

I was taken aback by his tone. "You didn't do anything," I said shyly, my voice coming out in nothing but a whisper. "I want my first time to be special."

"And I'm not special enough for you?" he asked. He was frustrated and not thinking clearly.

"That's not what I said. This has nothing to do with you." I was able to infuse my voice with the anger I felt at the way he'd twisted my words.

"Of course it doesn't. Whenever you decide when your special moment will be, you know where to find me," Sam said with a growl and left.

All the good feelings and the small peace I'd found that day vanished the moment Sam left our makeshift bedroom. What had I done to deserve such treatment? Didn't he respect me enough to give me some time? I cried myself to sleep like I'd done so many other countless nights.

Something woke me up, and at first I couldn't tell what it was. Then I heard the noise that must have roused me. It was the sound of angry growls and snapping teeth. Sam wasn't with me, and I just _knew_ that one of the people growling was him. I ran downstairs through the dark house and to the backyard. All the adults had formed a semicircle around two fighting animals. I couldn't tell what they were. I pushed my way through before Judy caught me and held me back.

Right there in the middle of the semicircle of people were two identical wolves fighting savagely. Blood was flying everywhere and I felt as my heart started to break for Sam. He'd been so frustrated that he'd started to fight with Derek, over something stupid probably. The two figures came too close to us and one of them was pushed into us. Judy and I both lost our footing and fell to the ground, with Jeff and Joseph reaching for us to right us. While on the ground I'd found Sam's clothes, discarded just as he'd discarded his civility. I was too scared to cry as Jeff made sure I was steady on my feet. I held onto Sam's clothes, willing him mentally to stop, to please, please stop.

We all gasped as we heard a bone crunch and a loud yelp. The wounded wolf limped away and shifted to human form. It was Derek, and he was holding his arm. Immediately Gary went to check on him. Sam shifted too, ignoring me in favor of Heather.

I couldn't believe what my eyes were witnessing, and none of the people around me did anything to stop it. Heather began peeling her clothes, getting as naked as Sam and lying on the ground in front of him, legs wide open, waiting. Sam looked at her with hungry lustful eyes, his desire evident. He walked to her with sure footsteps, touching himself as he stared down at the naked woman. He knelt in front of her and without further delay entered her with a groan.

Before I could witness any more depravity, I ran away and became sick near some bushes, vomiting whatever was left in my stomach from dinner. Nobody followed me, and I didn't care. I could still hear Sam's grunts and Heather's moans and I had to get out of there. I dug in Sam's pants, still in my hands, left the clothes somewhere in the bushes and, with the truck keys in my hand, I got in and turned the engine.

My eyes would not stop leaking hot tears full of hurt, and I couldn't see very well out the windshield. The truck swerved under my frayed nerves and unsteady hands, but I managed to drive it out from the farmhouse and away from Sam.

**TBC**


	11. The Howling

**A/N: **I know I caught some by surprise about Sam, judging by the reviews I got. Not that I didn't LOVE all my reviews. I cherished every single one of them, and tried to answer as many as I could until real life interrupted. So, because I love everyone who has reviewed, favorited and alerted this and all my stories: here's a quick update. Yay! Who rocks? I DO! I mean… Um… YOU DO! :-)

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**THE HOWLING**

"Oh, shit! Ohshitohshitohshitohshit! FUCK!" Amelia muttered from the backseat. She held the compass at my behest. The needle had jumped and we weren't sure why. It was pointing to the east of our location, but for a few seconds it had spun, as if not knowing which way Sookie was.

"Amelia, care to fill us in?" Pam asked her. I could feel her worry. We were all worried about the telepath.

Already we had come upon three roadblocks with Weres offering Pam and I ready food. Each time we pointed to Amelia as our source, and the witch was smart enough to adopt a blank look whenever that happened. I wasn't sure about what the Weres were doing, but it didn't inspire confidence in the race. Had they captured humans to offer to vampires as food? And were vampires fueling the trade? I was not about to stop to find out the answers, but it worried me. In my long existence it had never come to that.

Now the witch sounded like she had started to cry. Whatever the compass had shown her had me truly concerned for Sookie's safety. "Amelia!" I said her name sternly, bringing her out from wherever she had gone.

"Sookie was seeing Sam mating after a fight. This will destroy her!" Amelia shouted, putting the compass back where I could see it. If I could have made the truck go faster, I would have. I'd made finding Sookie my personal goal, and finding her whole and sound was of the utmost importance. That included her mental state.

"What do you mean?" Pam asked the witch. I hadn't felt the need to ask. I knew what Amelia had meant, but I let her explain it to Pam anyway. My child needed a lesson in human emotions.

Amelia took a deep breath, choosing her words. "Sookie is special. Since she can read people's minds, she's never really dated, much less _been_ with anybody, because she can easily read men's intentions and dirty thoughts. Her dates always end in disaster. She went on a date with Sam, and you guys know how that ended up!" Amelia paused and continued in a lower voice. "Sookie doesn't know anything about shifter behavior and how they take the spoils from a fight. She's innocent. She probably didn't understand what she saw, other than her good friend was having sex in front of other people with someone he doesn't know."

"Fucking shifter shit," I found myself mumbling, "Passing on the strong genes by mating with their enemy's woman. Sick."

"Whatever, Viking," Pam said, reminding me of my heritage.

"Yes, we had sex in public, but it wasn't a surprise to those witnessing it, and I personally never engaged in such behavior. That was something the upper classes did with their slaves. I was a drottin. I was too busy to keep slaves for my pleasure," I said, my pride piqued.

"You were a what?" Amelia asked.

"I was a warrior chief, a drottin."

"Oh… that explains so much," Amelia said. She had stopped crying for her friend. "Anyway, that's the problem. Wherever Sookie is we have to find her like _now_. God only knows what seeing that did to her."

"Agreed," I said. I had two images of Sookie in my mind: the battered woman from the prison and the beautiful happy girl from the photo inside my wallet. I had stolen it from Amelia. It kept my purpose clear. I also found it remarkable that I had missed such a creature when she'd gone to Fangtasia. Perhaps if I had not been sulking and had paid more attention, Sookie would not be lost in the middle of Alabama, but safe at home or safe with me.

"Stop! Eric, stop!" Amelia shouted from the backseat. As soon as I pulled over she was out the door and running back the way we'd come. She ran so fast she actually beat me and Pam.

We found her opening the door of a truck. I immediately went on alert. This was the shifter's truck, judging by the heavy smell of… blood? I remembered Sookie's scent. What I had catalogued as merely her sweet scent, was the scent of her blood.

"This is Sam's truck…" Amelia whispered, noticing what Pam and I could already smell.

I pushed aside the witch, smelling the air around the cab. It smelled like Sookie on the driver's side. Her blood was smeared on the back of the seat and nowhere else, as if she had suffered a blow to some part of her head. The smell of Were was strong.

"Fuck!" I cursed slamming the door of the truck so hard that it shattered the window. "Pam, you stay with Amelia and find yourselves a safe place for the day. I'm on foot from here." I ran to my truck and got the compass. I concentrated while holding it but couldn't see anything from Sookie's point of view. She must have been passed out or else asleep. I was sure it was the former.

"If you find Sookie you will need to know where Amelia is spending the day," Pam said, reaching me soon after. She was holding the witch in her arms.

"Call the number and leave the location. I have to go now," I said and ran, following the needle on the compass. The thought of killing some Weres and a particular shifter ran rampant in my mind. I had to focus. There should have been only one thought in my mind: finding Sookie.

I ran at half my speed, needing to pause for scents and direction. I must have been close to Sookie because the compass' needle changed direction often. I felt I was going around in circles until, during one of my pauses, I could smell Sookie's sweet scent. I was downwind from wherever she was, and that worked to my advantage. I pocketed the compass and followed my senses instead.

The scent of Were was wafting to me with force. It was unpleasant to me, but perhaps it was because of my personal aversion to the creatures. I picked up conversations, shouted instructions, the smell of humans and blood, lots of blood. Anyone of my ilk that made his way close enough would smell the blood and approach. Perhaps that was the intention. I decided to give them what they wanted: a willing customer.

I was not the only one there. I did not recognize the vampire woman inspecting the humans, all of whom were seated around trees with their hands bound behind their backs. My eyes zeroed in on Sookie. She was not unconscious anymore and was looking around her like someone who has too much information to share. Her mind was probably being bombarded with everyone's thoughts.

"How can I help you, mister?" one of the Weres asked as he approached me. Not only was he the picture of a scrawny human, he would also have made a scrawny wolf, perhaps an omega.

"I smelled blood," I said simply. The implication would be that I was hungry and wanted food.

"We have food. We sell them in parcels of three and you get to choose," the small man said. I was pretty sure I would kill him. I glanced at Sookie. The vampire woman was studying her, and fuck it all she chose Sookie. Of course she did. Sookie smelled better than any of the other humans. Plus she had bled.

The woman moved away from Sookie to choose her other meals, so I moved forward. All I knew about the other vampire was that she was brand new. That explained why she needed to buy her sustenance. I wondered where her maker was, but after everything that had happened, her maker might have been dead. A young vampire without a maker to guide her and train her to use the glamour properly… I should have been magnanimous and delivered her from this earth.

I studied the human woman next to Sookie and glamoured the fear out of her. I could feel Sookie's eyes on me and I almost moved to her to study her as well, but instead I was met with the angry hiss of the vampire woman.

"She's mine! I already claimed her," she shouted getting in my face. She must have been hungry and not thinking clearly to defy me in such a way.

"Relax, woman," I said and rolled my eyes. "I saw you make your choice." I leveled her with my gaze, so that she knew who was in charge. "But you would do well to remember that most of us are older and more powerful than you."

Instead of cowering as I expected, the youngling decided to fight me. She was young, but powerful. I had underestimated the strength of a child from a strong maker. When she attacked me she pushed me against the tree behind me. The tree shattered and splintered, sending a shower of wood and half of its height crashing down. The Weres began collecting their human inventory and putting them in nearby trucks.

The woman was still clawing at me, trying to bite me, and was holding me against the tree. Her rage fueled her strength and her hunger clouded her thoughts so much that she didn't even see that the Weres had left with all the humans.

"Fucking whore!" I roared and in one swift move I landed an elbow across her neck, breaking it. It would be enough to incapacitate her for a while, and if she couldn't move until the sun rose, then she would go on to greener pastures.

I didn't count on the speed the Weres used to put distance between themselves and our fight. I didn't count on the fact that some or all of the Weres might have been intoxicated in some manner. I didn't count on the wooded trail they chose to make their escape, or that they would simply dump the humans in the back of a pickup truck without any restraints. Therefore I was shocked to find a truck wrapped around a tree, with a dead Were inside it, and all the humans scattered around the forest where they had landed as they were ejected by the force of the impact.

"Sookie…" I muttered, taking in a deep breath. The scent of lots of blood was not new to me, but I was not as used to it anymore. My fangs lengthened and I went in search of the sweetest-smelling blood. The other humans would have to forgive me, but saving Sookie was my priority. She could save her whole race, if I could save her first.

Then I saw her, her blood pooling around her, that precious liquid that was her life. I knelt beside her. She was still alive, but barely. I could hear the other Weres howling and doubling back, so I couldn't linger. I had to take her with me now, or risk another fight. I had no time for another fight. Sookie was dying.

I broke the plastic bind around her wrists, picked her up gingerly, and ran with her through the night, praying to every god and goddess that would listen. Sookie needed to remain alive.

**TBC**

**A/N: I hear you, short chapter. Mind you, the continuation of this is the Preface, so… not that short. Don't y'all wanna see what happens when Sookie and Eric talk for the first time? Like REALLY talk?**


	12. Bother

**A/N: **Thank goodness I don't live close to you guys, but if you see a woman with brown curly hair running around with a goofy smile on her face (for no immediate apparent reason) that's me remembering all your wonderful reviews. :-D

* * *

**BOTHER**

The glowing knight, _my glowing knight_… I was in his arms. My surprise was quickly replaced with cold terror. His fangs were out and I immediately feared for my life. Was he drinking blood from me? His mouth looked bloody and I was in so much pain. Had he caused all the pain?

"I won't harm you. I just saved your life," he said, and his fangs started retracting. He looked just as beautiful as I remembered him when I'd seen him in Fangtasia. Beautiful and terrible.

"I know you," I whispered, trying to tell him so much more – to thank him for his help escaping, to tell him I'd never seen him smile until that last night at the prison – but I found it very difficult. My whole face hurt and my throat felt parched. I felt it was important for him to know that I was a friend not a foe. I don't know why I felt that way. Maybe because I didn't want him to eat me.

"What is your name?" he asked, and pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. I believed him then and began calming down by degrees. I believed that he had just saved my life. What else would explain his tender touch?

"Sookie Stackhouse," I answered, trying to swallow saliva to aid with my thirst. I tasted something sweet and salty in my mouth, like blood but not. Did I bleed?

"I am Eric the North Man. We have to move. Are you ready?" he asked in a businesslike way, waiting for my answer but I couldn't speak anymore. I nodded and closed my eyes. The pain that shot through every part of my body as he picked me up was excruciating. "Keep your eyes closed, Sookie. It will soon be over."

I felt it as he ran some more, but after a moment all I felt was the rushing wind. I opened my eyes and looked up at his face and beyond him. We weren't in the wood anymore, and it took me a moment to remember that he could fly and to understand that we were flying through the night. My eyes began watering from the blast of air and I had to close them again. I concentrated instead on my body. The pain was going away, and I felt like I could move again. I moved an arm, testing it. As soon as I did the North Man tightened his hold on me.

"Are you still in pain?" he asked. His deep voice resonated within his chest, and by extension inside my body. We were very close.

"Not as much," I managed to say, feeling uncomfortable with the closeness but accepting it. How else was he supposed to carry me? I was definitely not all there yet mentally.

"Do you remember what happened?"

I opened my eyes again and found him looking at me intently, waiting for my answer. I frowned, trying to remember exactly how I'd ended up in the arms of a flying vampire, but the last thing I remembered was leaving the farmhouse gunning the truck's engine so badly that one of the belts broke as I tried to make it down the road. I hadn't made it very far at all, maybe a couple of miles. The rest of my night was a blur.

"No," I answered finally. I was frustrated about it. I wondered if that was how people felt after being glamoured. Bill hadn't been able to glamour me, but maybe this vampire had been able to do it?

He studied me briefly and then looked forward. "We're almost there," he said. I almost asked where, but I felt my ears pop as he descended from the air. It was obvious he was taking me somewhere where I could spend the rest of the night. I wasn't sure how to feel about that, but my choices weren't many. Obviously something bad happened to me after I left the farmhouse, and this perennial savior had come to my rescue. I put my trust in the North Man, thinking it might be just as stupid as putting my trust in Sam, and wondering if I was going crazy for repeating the same actions expecting different results.

"Did you glamour me?" I asked in a shy voice. I felt him touch down on the ground and start walking. I didn't look around me, only at him, waiting for an answer and hopefully a truthful one.

"No, Sookie. I was told I could not use my glamour on you," he looked down and seemed to understand why I was asking the question. "I will tell you everything that happened, but first we need to make sure you are completely healthy. You probably want to wash," he said and gave me a crooked smile. He must have entered a building because the cool air conditioned air met my warm skin and made me shiver.

I didn't say anything else and only started looking around when we entered an elevator. He put me down, holding me to make sure I wasn't going to fall. I was glad he did, because I wasn't sure if my legs would hold me. They did. That's when I looked around and saw myself in the shiny mirrored surface of the elevator. I looked a fright!

"You're right. I need a shower," I mumbled, reaching up with shaky hands and arms to smooth my hair. I heard him chuckle.

The elevator doors opened and he stepped forward to put his arm out to hold them for me. Somehow he knew I would have trouble walking. I felt shaky on my legs too, wobbly, like I'd just had a really high fever.

"Do you want me to carry you? I don't mind," he said in a soft tone.

"No, thank you. Do you mind if I hold on to your arm? I feel like I need to walk the shakes off or something," I said, looking down at my feet. All my clothes were covered in either dark red or dried brown blood, and I didn't have any to change into. I'd figure something out. In the meantime a shower would do me good.

The North Man held out his arm and I used it as a handrail. I did notice his clothes were stained with blood as well; on the knees of his jeans in particular, he had two large stains. Those would never come off. I said something to that effect as we walked slowly to whichever room was his.

"It's your blood, Sookie. You were very badly hurt," he said in a low voice. It was a shame I couldn't read his mind. I could have used a quick read of his emotions. I was trying to figure out how I'd bled so much, but seemed to be otherwise fine now. The North Man had said he'd tell me everything, so I would wait until he did. At that moment I was dead tired.

I could hear a very active mind nearby conjuring up all kinds of images of me, mostly of scenarios where I was unconscious, or maybe dead judging by the scenes of a funeral that followed. I got a little excited. "Is Amelia here?" I asked the North Man, looking up and missing a step.

He righted me before I did a face plant and held me for a moment to make sure I was back to steady. "Yes, Amelia is waiting for you. She helped us find you. She has been very worried. Come on, your friend will be very happy to see you."

Somehow his kind words lifted my spirits like nothing else could have, other than seeing my best friend. We paused at a door that Amelia yanked open before the North Man even knocked.

"Sookie…" she said my name as if she'd seen a ghost, and I couldn't stop the tears. I'd missed my friend so much. Amelia and Jason were all I had left in this world, and I wasn't even sure where Jason was. But at least I had my Amelia back. She was holding her hands to her mouth, staring at me with unshed tears in her eyes. She blinked and the tears ran down her face. I, of course, started sobbing and threw myself into her suddenly open arms.

Amelia started muttering some incoherent things that I decided not to decipher. "Thank you so much, Big Guy. You are the best drottin, I mean it and I'll only call you Eric from now on, I swear!"

"Thank you, Amelia. That was my goal all along," the North Man said and I heard him chuckling.

Amelia pulled away and smoothed my hair. "What do you want to do? Eat, sleep, take a bath…?" She was smiling from ear to ear.

I let her pull me farther inside the room. I realized we were in a hotel. It took me a while. "I'm really thirsty and I could use a shower," I said timidly, registering the other face in the room. I remembered her too. She was the other owner of Fangtasia, the one that had chosen Amelia during my birthday. At that particular time I couldn't remember her name.

"Sookie, this is Pam Ravenscroft," the North Man said pointing at the blond woman who gave me a polite smile. _Oh, yeah… Pam…_

"Nice to finally meet you, Sookie Stackhouse," Pam said. She'd heard me say I was thirsty and was already walking to me with a glass full of ice water. It was the best glass of water I'd ever had, and Pam even had a second one ready and waiting when I finished gulping the first one.

"Sookie," the North Man said my name to draw my attention. "I would really like for you and Amelia to spend the day here and rest until we come get you tonight. It is close to dawn now and Pam and I need to seek shelter." His politeness caught me off guard. I don't know what I'd been expecting. Vampire Bill had been nothing but polite to me as well.

"Honestly, I think I'm too tired to do anything but rest. Thank you, North Man," I said and held out my hand. I knew that vampires didn't shake, but I didn't care. This vampire would have to because I owed him my gratitude.

He smiled from ear to ear and took my hand. He turned it and kissed my knuckles softly. He looked up from his semi-bow, still smiling. "My name is Eric." He stood to his full height and bid us farewell. He actually used that word, which I thought was kind of nice.

Amelia was adamant that I should not take a shower on wobbly legs, and that she would help me wash my hair when I was ready. She knew I was shy about nudity, so she made sure I was settled and left the bathroom quickly. It felt so good to lie inside the warm water… I didn't even realize I'd fallen asleep until I heard Amelia talk to someone and the brief conversation woke me up. Well, that could have been disastrous.

"Amelia!" I called, a little scared that I'd fallen asleep in the tub. I think my fear carried in my voice because she burst in the bathroom immediately.

"What? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I think I fell asleep," I said, shy. I sat up and hugged my knees. "Can you help me with my hair?"

Her expression softened. "Of course," she breathed a sigh of relief and knelt outside the tub, reaching for the complimentary shampoo and conditioner bottles. "That was Eric before. He brought a clean shirt he had in his truck for you to use until Pam and I get you clothes tomorrow night. What I wouldn't give to rock the Viking's shirt…" she said with a dreamy voice.

"Viking?" I asked, not following.

"Eric, he was a Viking," she explained, then affected a deep voice, "He was a drottin, a warrior chief," she laughed. I smiled with her.

"That means that he's a very old vampire," I thought out loud. My brain wasn't firing on all pistons, and I was really looking forward to a warm cozy bed.

"For an old geezer he sure looks hot," she said, rinsing my hair. Soon she was done and helping me out of the tub. I had to let her because I felt like my legs were being a tad uncooperative in lifting me.

"Are you sure you're not hungry," Amelia asked over the noise of the hair dryer. We didn't have a brush, so she was running her fingers through my hair.

"No, just thirsty," I answered. She had already brought me a couple more glasses of water, and I had even eaten the ice. She turned off the hair dryer and ran to get me another glass of water. I stood up from the toilet's lid to look at myself in the mirror. I had avoided it for as long as I could but now my curiosity was getting the better of me. I wondered how bad my bruises looked.

I lifted the very big T-shirt that Eric had given me and looked at my sides, my back… I already knew the bruises from my face were gone, but so were all the other bruises on my body. How could that be? I should have still had a bit of discoloration, at least. Amelia found me examining my naked body, and I quickly lowered the shirt.

"What's wrong?" she asked, handing me another glass of water.

I looked at her and said nothing at first for two reasons: one, I was shocked that my skin looked flawless as ever; and two, I would have to tell her at least part of the bad stuff, and I didn't know where to begin. I knew we'd have to talk sooner or later, but I was counting on later after my brain rebooted. I gulped my water, thinking of the best way to answer, and realizing that there was no good way.

"In prison… the guards weren't very gentle with me," I said and took several deep breaths associated with the fact that I'd just gulped a lot of water without breathing. "They beat me and left bruises. I had bruises earlier today, but not anymore."

As I finished my explanation, Amelia's face cleared. I was trying really hard to stay out of her head, but it came through clearly anyway. She'd noticed my trepidation and decided not to ask me about the prison yet. Instead she explained how come I was healed.

"I'm guessing Eric gave you some of his blood to heal you. You both looked like you'd been in a bloodbath, but you have no wounds. You can ask him later whether or not he gave you blood. If he did," she paused, pointing a finger at my horrified face, "Listen to me, Sookie Stackhouse. Vampires don't give their blood willy-nilly. Those two really respect what you did for them in the prison, and wanted to return the favor. So if Eric confirms that he gave you his blood you will be gracious and not make the face you just made. He saved your life."

"Okay," I said, humbled by her tiny speech. I would ask Eric whether he gave me blood and then ask him all the questions that had just popped into my head. I brushed my teeth with Amelia's toothbrush (not the first time in our lives that we shared out of necessity), and started trying to make heads or tails of all my questions.

"Also thank him for bankrolling this party. He's the one who's been paying for me and you to stay at a nice hotel where we can rest our weary heads, and for the gas on the truck, and for food," Amelia said, and I started getting mad.

"Did you just remind me of my manners, Amelia Broadway?"

"Yes. Got a problem with that? As if you knew who was paying for this room," she muttered and guided me to the bed. She helped me get under the covers and even tucked me in. Amelia and I were not the types to stay mad at each other for long. "Good night, Sookie. I love you," she said and kissed my temple.

"I love you too, pain in my ass," I said to Amelia and had her laughing.

My bed was soft and warm. The room was quiet and dark. If I closed my eyes I could pretend I was enjoying a vacation at a fancy hotel. In fact, I let my mind wander into that fantasy… Fancy hotel by the beach… I was tired because I'd spent the day swimming in the ocean. I'd met a beautiful man who lent me his shirt so I could walk through the nice lobby in something other than a bikini. I took a deep breath and smelled the scent that I already knew belonged to Eric the North Man. It clung to the shirt I was wearing, and it was the same scent that I'd breathed in while he'd held me in his arms. I fell asleep easily, and didn't dream.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I woke up to voices and the sound of the shower, but I was so cozy and so comfortable that I simply turned away from the light and groaned in protest.

"I see Sleeping Beauty is not ready to awake," said a deep masculine voice.

"I don't wanna," I whined and pulled the covers over me. It didn't dawn on me where I was or who was talking. All I knew was that someone was trying to wake me up, and I wanted to keep sleeping.

"She'll wake up when she realizes what you've found for our dinner," Amelia said. I knew it was her and I hunkered down, expecting her by my side at any moment. Sure enough, her next words were right next to my ear. "Sookie… The vampires brought fried chicken." I knew she was trying to entice me. I really was hungry, actually. "The fries won't keep, Sookie."

I groaned some more. I was starting to smell the food and it was making my tummy rumble. _Did she say the vampires brought food?_ I sat up too quickly and the room spun. I lied back down with another groan, feeling the colder air of the room hit me from the waist up. Then I remembered I didn't have a bra on and there was a guy in the room. I scrambled to cover my chest with the blankets and tried to sit up again, slowly.

"She's alive!" Amelia announced and brought me a plate of food and a glass of soda. It looked different than Coke, and when I tasted it I realized it was grape soda. I gulped down the whole thing, enjoying the sweet treat.

I looked around me before I stuffed my face and saw Eric sitting on a chair by the table, looking at back at me with a smile. I smiled back a little shy. How do you start a conversation with someone who saved your life? _Hi, how are you? Thank you for saving my life, getting us food and shelter, and coming to look for me in the first place._ Weird. I didn't have to start the conversation after all. Eric did it for me.

"How are you feeling tonight?" he asked.

Oh, right! I hadn't yet taken stock of what hurt and what didn't. Judging by the way I was holding my chicken drumstick, the shakes were gone. Other than still feeling a little sleepy and a lot hungry, I was perfect. "I'm feeling very good, thanks for asking," I said, and decided to widen my smile. If Amelia's hunch was right and Eric had indeed given me his blood, then I was feeling good thanks to him.

"That's much better!" exclaimed a female voice from the general vicinity of the bathroom. It must have been Pam. She must have taken a shower.

Amelia saw my confused expression and put me out of my misery. "Eric and Pam spent the day underground, like literally under the ground."

"That's the bad part about being away from home," Eric chimed in, getting up in one fluid movement. For a tall man he was sure graceful. He started for the bathroom but stopped and turned to me. "Sookie? Do you need to use the bathroom before I shower?"

Well, shoot! That was awful nice of him. "Yes, please." Then I found a little problem. The shirt I had on covered me pretty well, but I still had not a shred of underwear on.

Eric saved me the embarrassment of asking him to turn around and did it himself. "I shall give you some privacy."

When I returned from the bathroom I found that Eric had remained in the same spot. I quickly got under the covers with Amelia giggling all the way. I rolled my eyes at her and covered myself. "Thanks, Eric," I said and dug into my plate of food. Someone had refilled my soda in my absence. Before I took my first bite, I added, "And thank you both for getting us food before coming here. That was very thoughtful and very nice of you, considering you were all dirty."

Pam laughed and Eric smiled at me. "You're welcome, Sookie. Believe it or not we weren't the only dirty vampires buying food for their human charges," he said. The enormity of what he meant hit me like a sack of potatoes. Humans were better off staying indoors or with a supe of some kind. Vampires were buying food for their humans so that the humans could remain safely hidden. Whether they kept the humans for their own sustenance or were merely friends, it was still a strange turn of events.

"It's all right, Sookie. You're with us," Pam said, trying to allay my fears. They were probably plain as day on my face. I nodded and tried to calm myself, if only to eat. I knew I had to.

As soon as Eric returned from his shower, Pam and Amelia left to buy me some clothes. Eric stayed to babysit me. I told him as much and he laughed heartily. I laughed with him. It reminded me that the two times I'd been to Fangtasia he had been in what looked like a sour mood, and I had thought he was just a sourpuss. But I'd been wrong.

"I saw you at Fangtasia," I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Forget asking him whether or not he'd healed me with his blood. The Fangtasia bit needed to be said.

"Really? What did you think of my bar?" he asked, sinking into the chair and lacing his fingers over his stomach. While he was at it, he put his bare feet on the foot of my bed.

"I liked it very much. I went there the first time for my birthday, with Amelia and a vampire friend from my town, and the second time…" I trailed off.

"What's the name of your vampire friend?" Eric asked, directing the conversation to more pleasant subjects.

"His name is Bill Compton. He moved back to his original home in Bon Temps not too long ago."

"I do know Bill. I met him in New Orleans a few times while visiting the woman in charge of the vampires of Louisiana."

"The woman in charge of the vampires?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of my manners.

"Some time before the Great Revelation we decided that it would be best to name representatives that could speak for the rest of us. We called them Kings and Queens, but that's only because this country already has a human president, human governors, et cetera. We had to differentiate the head of the vampires, from the head of the humans. The Queen of Louisiana was Sophie-Anne Leclerq, and her headquarters were in New Orleans," Eric said good-naturedly, like he didn't mind giving me all this information.

"New Orleans… that makes sense. Can I ask you something?"

"You may."

"Where are you from, originally?" I asked and mentally hunkered down for the answer. I wasn't sure what I was expecting. He'd been nothing but polite.

"I am a man from the north, Sookie," he said and smiled. I frowned in confusion until I realized he was making fun of me. I was the one who'd called him North Man. He continued, "From what I can tell, I am from somewhere near Scandinavia. But my life took me very far after I was turned, so I can't be sure of the exact location."

I looked at him in wonder. So he _was_ a Viking. "How old are you?" I all but whispered, then had to reel that stupid question back in. "I'm so sorry, Eric. Please feel free not to answer. I'm so nosy."

"If you tell me how old you are I'll tell you how old I am," he said with a mischievous grin.

"I just turned twenty five in July," I said in a tiny voice. I knew he was about to blow my socks off.

"I just turned a thousand twenty five this past November," he said without missing a beat.

I snickered but couldn't contain it. Between being nervous about his answer and the answer itself, I got a case of the giggles that turned into all out laughter. I tried to calm down and had regained some semblance of control when he said, "I look good for my age, don't I?" and my silliness resumed.

Eventually I calmed down enough, mostly because I'd noticed that at no point did Eric stop looking in my direction. I stole glances between bites of food. He was wearing a clean pair of jeans and a T-shirt that was the same as mine but in white. Mine was black.

"Can I ask you something else?" I said. This time I had to gather my courage. He nodded and put his hands behind his head, still leaning back comfortably. "Did you… did you give me your blood, to heal me?"

Eric changed his posture immediately. One second he was leaning back, the next he was leaning forward, feet firmly on the ground and elbows resting on his knees. He looked down at his hands before looking up at me. "I did," was all he said.

"But I'm not a vampire," I mumbled, not knowing what else to say.

"No, you're not. Thankfully you hadn't bled enough to be drained. My blood simply healed you, but did not turn you," he explained, looking at me intensely. I guessed he wondered if I was about to wig out on him or something.

"Thank you, Eric, for saving my life," I said, trying to infuse my tone with sincerity and gratitude.

Eric smiled. "Anytime, but let's not make it a habit, if that's alright with you."

"Fine by me," I smiled back.

I finished my food and Eric got up to take my plate. He even brought me one of those packets of wet napkins so I could get the chicken grease off my fingers. I almost felt pampered… in fact, I _did_ feel pampered. I couldn't remember the last time I had been served at a restaurant, and here was Eric the North Man and vampire taking care of me. It made me wonder at his ulterior motives.

"So, Eric… why did you feel you had to come get me?" I asked. Amelia had hinted, but I wanted to hear it directly from the horse's mouth.

"I have two reasons for you, one that will appeal to you, and one that will not. But I would like to be as candid as possible with you, if I may," he waited for me to nod before continuing. "You helped me immensely that night at the prison. I had to move fast to find Pam, and you cut down my search time. As a matter of fact, I didn't have to search. You told me exactly where she was, and that's exactly where I went. The second reason, and I hope you will forgive me…" he seemed to take a deep breath, "you are the first human telepath I have come across, and I believe it is important for you to be protected."

He searched my eyes but I gave nothing away. I was trying to understand. "It is a lot of… bother… to find me in order to keep me protected."

"I guess I am not explaining it correctly," he paused and thought some more. "You are unique, so much so that I have not come across another like you in all my long existence. This makes you a treasure. You were chosen, in a manner of speaking. I don't want to use you, but I also don't want others to use you," he paused and then added, "or abuse you," in a very low voice.

I looked down at my hands on my lap. Talk of my being chosen and being a treasure that others took advantage of struck a nerve. Gran had always said I had a unique gift that not everyone got to possess, and here was Eric repeating her words. I looked up again, but he wasn't looking at me like I'd expected. He was looking down at his hands between his knees.

"I guess it's up to you whether you'd like me to protect you, Sookie. All I can do is show you I mean for you to be safe, and all I can say is a vow that I will keep you safe at all costs," Eric looked up waiting for my answer.

**TBC**

**A/N: Ha-ha! ! ! ! I LOVE VIKINGS AND CLIFFHANGERS! I think I might even get the license plate. And I don't want to hear what a meanie I am, nu-uh! I gave y'all well over 5k words on this one. Now I shall work on AAD. :-P**


	13. Gimme Sympathy

**A/N: **Thank you all so much for all the love this story is receiving. It truly fills my heart with joy.

* * *

**GIMME SYMPATHY**

When I looked up I saw Sookie's eyes widen in fear. She quickly looked away. I had noticed that she did that a lot. She was shy.

"Eric, I don't know what to tell you," she took a deep shaky breath and her heartbeat picked up. She was looking at her hands but seemed to be formulating something else to say, so I did not interrupt. Finally she looked up with tears in her eyes. "What happened to me last night? Why can't I remember? What was so bad that you haven't told me? Please…" she breathed in deeply, "Please tell me. Eric?"

I fetched a box of tissues from the bathroom and sat at the foot of her bed after I handed them to her. She whispered a thank you then looked up expectantly.

"Are you sure you want me to tell you? It won't change the fact that you are now safe and among friends," I said, to give her one more chance to avoid the pain.

"I want to know," she said in a less shaky voice and for once she wasn't shy. I understood her better by that gesture. She was shy with me, but not in general, and was far more courageous than I'd given her credit.

I nodded. She needed to know. "We had a compass bewitched by Amelia to find you," I took the compass out of my pocket and handed it to her. The arrow was pointing straight at her. It still worked. She looked at it, turned it this way and that then handed it back to me.

"I know where I am," she said with a weak smile.

I smiled with her and pocketed the compass once more. "It led us past the shifter's truck on the side of the road, and Amelia recognized it. When we searched it we found you blood in it, as if someone had injured you on your head. I took the compass and followed it on foot. When I found you, you had been abducted by Weres for sale to hungry vampires. Someone was about to buy you. When I pretended to want to buy you as well, the other vampire started a fight. Rather than stick around fighting vampires, the Weres put all their stolen humans in two pickup trucks and left quickly. After I dealt with the vampire I went in search of you," I paused. Sookie was shedding tear after tear, without sobs. Just tears. This was becoming more difficult for me to tell. I could not imagine what it would have felt for her to listen. "Do you wish me to continue?"

"Yes, please," she said in a sure voice that belied her tears.

I nodded again and continued. "You were in a truck driven by an intoxicated Were. He crashed the truck against a tree, and all the humans were ejected from the bed of the truck by the force of the impact. You ended up very far from the accident. When I found you, you had several lacerations on the exposed skin of your arms, two large cuts on your head, and major internal injuries." I didn't tell her how I knew her injuries had been major, remembering how much blood had been coming out of her mouth. "I had to risk turning you to heal you."

Sookie looked down then. "Does Amelia know where my grandmother is?" she asked, fidgeting with her tissue.

"I believe she called a hospital the night we left to look for you. They told her your grandmother was in stable condition."

"They lied to cover their actions. My grandmother never went to a hospital. She was supposed to go for dialysis treatment the day after I was taken into custody. She had to go more often lately... They took her and my brother Jason to use them as leverage and make me sort between humans and shifters. At first I refused, so they simply didn't take care of my grandmother. She only lasted a few days before the toxins in her system killed her. She was already so fragile…" she shook her head and a sob escaped her finally. With a lot of effort she finished her account. "I didn't want them to harm Jason too. He's the only family I got left, so I did what they wanted. They beat me," she looked up at me, and her face turned from grief to rage. "They beat me! They threatened me and beat me!"

I got close to her and took her hands. I didn't know what to do for her grief. I felt a small amount of the emotion myself thanks to my blood inside her, so I showed her my compassion. She was in so much pain, and this seemed to be the first time she actually spoke of what had happened. I decided not to push the issue of her safety. She knew I would protect her, and right now she needed my silence. Sookie squeezed my hands, silently thanking me for listening.

"Eric… I will accept your offer of protection because I don't want to go back to a place like that, and I don't want to become another victim of this mess. Eventually I want to look for my brother. He…" she lowered her gaze, "He thought I was raped, I think, and when we escaped he stayed behind to avenge me."

"Were you raped, Sookie?" I asked, because if she had I would have forgotten myself and sought every one of her attackers.

"No. I'm sure with time they would have followed through with their threats. I would have let them kill me," she said with disdain.

We were silent for a long time. After a while her emotions settled as she continued looking down at our hands. She seemed to become more comfortable with my touch, but was still very shy. Any other woman would have already offered herself to me, but not Sookie. She was cut from a different cloth, or else I did not come across her kind very often. I found myself wanting to draw her out. We would be spending a lot of time together and I wanted to get to know her.

"What are you thinking, Sookie?"

She smiled a sad smile and sniffled. When she looked up, her red eyes were the only physical remnants of her sadness and grief. "I was thinking that it's nice to hang around you and Pam. I don't have to work so hard at blocking out thoughts, because I can't hear you."

"What about Amelia?"

Sookie laughed. It was sudden and unexpected. "You've spent some time with her," she said between chortles. "Do you think she has a censor between her brain and mouth?"

I chuckled with her. "No, I don't believe she does," I answered.

She became a little more serious and looked at me in wonder. "Hey… you have little wrinkles… when you laugh. I thought vampires didn't get wrinkles."

I laughed harder then. "I already had them," I explained. What an odd creature! Now she was trying to see if I matched what she knew about my race with what she could see in me. At least we had moved away from her pain. Or so I thought.

"You didn't ask me…" she started but stopped.

"What is it, Sookie?"

"You didn't ask me why I left on my own without Sam," she said finally.

I reluctantly withdrew one of my hands from her warm ones and took the compass from my pocket. I closed my hand around it, closed my eyes and concentrated. I could see me, through Sookie's eyes, through the eyes of a human. I even saw myself smile at her. "This compass allowed us to see some of what you saw. Your friend Amelia is very clever. She saw what Sam did to you."

I tried to hand it back to her but she pushed my hand away gently, with the compass still in it. "Keep it, please. Just in case. Eric?"

"Yes, Sookie," I said. She had a way of asking permission to ask questions.

"Where are we going? How are you going to keep me protected? What are your plans?" she asked, all of them valid questions.

"I will tell you, Sookie, but Pam and Amelia are here with clothes. I will let you change and then we will all talk about our next step. Is that agreeable?"

Sookie nodded in response and I went to get the door. I could hear the two women even before the doors to the elevator opened. They sounded like two hens.

"Bag lady!" Amelia announced and went straight to Sookie, taking out pieces of clothing and even underwear. I turned away because if Sookie had seen me looking at her new undergarments, she would have been embarrassed and become shy again.

"How did everything go?" I asked Pam as she handed me back my credit card. It was a wonder that they still worked. Automatic transactions such as those did not seem to have been affected.

"Good, but we have to watch the news. As long as we stay in or around major cities, everything seems okay. The talk of abductions by Weres is that it is only happening in rural areas where the population is sparse and there are better chances of hiding the operation." Pam moved to turn on the TV.

"I am going downstairs for a few minutes. I shall return," I said to no one in particular and left to give Sookie some room.

I needed to feed. Sookie's blood smelled delicious, and she had taken some of mine, or rather, she had taken a lot of my blood. I was thirsty and her proximity had only made it worse. The thought of her sumptuous neck made me thirsty and hard. I needed to feed.

The thirst drove me to find a room with a human in it. Only one. Perfect. I knocked and my good looks opened the door. The sight that met me was decadent: pretty brunette, early thirties, a little heavy which made her neck all the more beautiful. Soft. She was easy to glamour and allowed me entry into her room. I asked her to please take off her top, her soft breasts were full with large areolas. I took off my shirt too, to be fair. When I caressed her neck, she shivered at my touch, her nipples growing hard. I lowered my face to her neck, took in her scent of vanilla, and I slowly sank my fangs into her smooth skin. Her blood tasted like A-Negative, rare, delicious. But not as rare or delicious as Sookie's. I finished feeding quickly, sealed her wounds carefully, and asked her to put her clothes back on, thanking her for my meal. She would never remember I had been there, and I had left no trace of my visit. That was the way of the vampire.

Sookie was dressed, and she had put her beautiful blond hair into a ponytail, which did not become her as much as the wild mane she'd sported earlier. She looked more like the happy girl from the photo in my wallet than the woman I'd left in that prison. I should have taken her with me that night. Stolen her as soon as Pam told me she was a telepath. But that route, I could see in hindsight, would only have caused her pain. Not that she had not been in pain, but I had not been the culprit. Or, at least, that's what I told myself.

"I was telling the girls that our best bet is to stay in Shreveport for now. We can stop in Bon Temps and pick up their things, then continue on. Bon Temps is too far removed and might be too dangerous," Pam said.

Sookie and Amelia were watching the TV as Pam spoke. The news was grim all around, and now the whole of the human congress had been disbanded, which was no great loss in my opinion. Thankfully, the vampires in charge of the coups on Capitol Hill had been merciful and had sent all the representatives back to their homes in their various states. They still had control of the whole Senate, the Chiefs, the Vice President was missing, and the President was still in talks. I was pretty sure that the vampire regents involved in the talks with the President were from states near the District: Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, North and South Carolina, perhaps even someone from Connecticut or Georgia. I was also pretty sure that the President of the United States did not do anything under threat, or even perceived threat. Letting the representatives go would show that vampires were not the ones posing the threat.

"Eric?" Sookie's voice brought me back from my thoughts. I looked around and all three women were looking at me with puzzled expressions.

"Something wrong?" I asked. I must have missed something. It happened when I moved the chess pieces around in my head.

"I asked you the same question three times," Pam said, smirking in a strange way, and I knew why: I had not paid attention until Sookie had spoken.

"What was that Pam?" I asked, redirecting the conversation.

"Are we ready to leave? Should we check out?" she asked, enunciating every word. She really had repeated herself.

"Yes, let us leave," I declared and grabbed the keys that Pam threw at me.

Once we were on our way I knew I'd made the right decision to feed earlier. Sookie's scent filled the cabin and made my gums itch. After having just a little bit of her blood I craved more. Pam would not feel the craving like I did, which was small consolation: Sookie had only one vampire yearning to feed from her. If I had been thirsty, my control might have crumbled. I thought that the craving for blood in this way was something I had overcome.

"We'll probably make it all the way to Monroe, or near Monroe, by the time we have to stop. I would only ask you to please remain indoors during the day until we arrive in Shreveport and we have a chance to assess the danger," I said, trying to think of something other than blood.

"And tomorrow night?" Sookie asked.

"We'll stop at your houses and pick up your things. Then you are coming with me."

"Where?"

"To my house in Shreveport."

Sookie was silent for a long moment before speaking. "You trust us in your house?"

"Do you have plans of killing us during the day?" I countered.

"No! Of course not," she said quickly.

"Then I trust you in my house," I said and met her gaze in the rear view mirror. When I smiled, she smiled. "Don't worry, Sookie. My house is yours and Amelia's for as long as you need my protection. In the meantime I will help you find your brother. Maybe Amelia can work her magic so we can find him too."

"He's not a telepath," Sookie mumbled.

"But he's your family," I said, and I should have known she would cry. It had been a long time since I'd dealt with humans this closely. "I'm so sorry Sookie."

"I'm okay… it's just that you're being so nice…" she said, accepting a tissue and a hug from her friend.

"Kindness is universal. Those who sow it reap it," I said.

"I don't know how to repay you for this kindness, Eric," she said between sniffles.

"He wasn't talking about himself, silly Sookie," Amelia said. "He was talking about you."

After a few hours, Sookie and Amelia fell asleep in the backseat. Pam and I remained silent and lost in our own thoughts, until Pam decided to give voice to hers.

"Do you really think we will find her brother?" Pam asked me in the lowest whisper.

I shook my head.

**TBC**

**A/N: People not from the U.S…. if you have any questions regarding our divisions, government, etc, please let me know. I'll ask my hubby, my source for all things that I can't understand… like our divisions, government, etc. :-)**

**Now I'm gonna duck for cover for having Eric feed from a pretty girl not-Sookie. Guy needs to eat!**


	14. Temptation

**A/N: **Have I ever told y'all that I have the most wonderful and smartest readers? I DO! You were so understanding and approving of the fact that Eric needed to feed… you even overlooked his groping and cut him some slack. Eric thanks you and sends you big Viking hugs and kisses!

* * *

**TEMPTATION**

_They that have power to hurt and will do none… They rightly do inherit heaven's graces…  
__**Sonnet XCIV  
**__William Shakespeare_

Just like Eric said, we spent the day at a hotel in a suburb to the east of Monroe. Amelia and I rested because sleeping in the truck hadn't given us any true rest, and I in particular felt drained, no pun intended. Pam seemed to be the first aid expert, and she did tell me that I would feel overly tired for the next few days as my body recovered from the blood loss. Eric's blood had healed me, but replenishing what I had lost would be my body's job.

As I drifted in and out of sleep all day I kept thinking about everything Eric had said. And also what he'd done. He'd let me cry and get things off my chest. He hadn't tried to make it better; he just listened. That's all I'd wanted all along. After that initial touch, my hands in his or his in mine, he'd kept his distance, and I wasn't sure why. I wasn't sure how to feel about that, either. I attributed my sudden attachment to him to the fact that he'd saved me twice. There was no other reason, not really. I barely knew him.

Yet, I found myself drifting off to sleep imagining different scenarios revolving around him: he and I dancing inside a crowded club, me serving him a True Blood at Merlotte's, him picking me at Fangtasia. That's usually when I stopped my own musings and refocused. I didn't need the complication of developing a sudden stupid crush on my savior. What was I? Thirteen?

I still needed his help, though, his and Pam's. Amelia and I figured it out during our most wakeful moments that day near Monroe. Eric was so old, that he got bored. He had picked a cause (me) and now he was making sure I would survive. I hated to call him a humanitarian, since he was a vampire, but the term fit. Amelia called him the same thing that Pam called him behind his back: SuperVamp.

"Instead of an 'S' on his chest he has 'SV.' And you know he can fly," Amelia said, and I was in stitches. It was a silly conversation, but Eric indeed could fly. And he was very strong. Imagining him wearing blue tights did nothing to help with my little daydreams.

Eric and Pam showed up right after sunset that night, showered at record speed, and we headed out to Bon Temps. Amelia's house was closest, so we stopped there first. She lived in a duplex on a busy neighborhood street, but every house seemed to be shut tight. I could feel humans behind every closed door and window. Pam and Amelia ran inside her house and packed, while I remained in the car with a silent Eric.

I fidgeted out of nerves, and didn't notice I was shaking my leg anxiously until Eric reached over and put his hand on my knee. I looked up, expecting him to be mad or something, but he just gave me an understanding smile.

"Pam is a great warrior. Amelia is safe," he said, withdrew his hand and looked forward.

"Can I ask you something…?" I leaned forward through the middle of the seats, too nervous to stay put. I immediately stopped my question. The sight of his fangs lengthening filled me with dread.

"Please, Sookie, sit back," he asked me in almost a whisper and lowered his window.

I did as he asked, not knowing whether he was getting ready for battle or ready to eat me. Within a minute Pam and Amelia were back, lugging three pieces of luggage and several bags full of groceries between the two. Since nothing else happened, I had to assume that Eric had been getting ready to eat me. The knowledge sent a chill down my spine.

The ride to my house was only a few minutes but it felt like much longer. I was nervous about the situation in general, and now I was scared of Eric. I heard some whispering in the front seat, but I couldn't make out the quiet conversation that Pam and Eric were having. However, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it had to do with what had just happened. I stopped giving it any thought when we got to my house and the security lights didn't turn on as we approached. I said something about it.

"That's because someone broke the lights and they're on the ground," Eric said bringing the truck to a full stop. We all stayed in the car for a long moment before Eric opened his door and went for a walk, it seemed.

"You girls stay here," Pam said and left too. Immediately I cast out a mental net, trying to catch something, anything.

"What do you hear?" Amelia asked in a quiet voice.

I shook my head slowly. "There's nobody here except Eric and Pam," I said, feeling the two voids where two minds should be. They had separated and were searching the perimeter of the house near the tree line.

"What happened between you and Eric earlier?" Amelia asked.

"Nothing," I answered quickly. Too quickly. It wasn't necessary for Amelia to speak when her thoughts were as loud as usual, and she knew it. She wondered what was wrong, what Eric had done to me, why I'd stared at the back of his head the whole drive as if waiting for an attack from him. To be honest, I _had_ been waiting for an attack.

I decided to answer one of her mental questions. "Eric didn't do anything to me," I said and tried to say it as if _she_ was the one who was nuts for thinking it.

Before Amelia had a chance to retort with what was swimming through her head, Pam opened my door with a tense look. "Do you feel any minds nearby?" she asked me.

"No, there's nobody here but us," I answered and she stepped aside so I could get out of the truck.

"Alright, you girls go and get your things. We'll stay out here and keep an eye out. We smelled humans and some kind of shifter, and they were here recently," Pam said in a low voice.

I nodded and moved quickly. Amelia stayed behind getting a suitcase from the trunk. One of the suitcases she had brought was a spare that she was going to lend me, knowing plenty well that the only piece of luggage my Gran and I had in the house was now somewhere in Alabama along with Sam.

As soon as I opened the unlocked door I knew something was wrong. The key had been where I had left it, so I wasn't sure why the door was unlocked. Maybe when Amelia had been here she'd forgotten to lock it, but I doubted it. Like lightning, someone's panicked thought entered my mind. It was there and gone so swiftly that I wasn't even sure where it had come from. It hadn't come from Amelia, whose mind was still behind me making a mental list of things I needed.

The living room was empty, I was sure there would be nobody upstairs, the first bathroom was fine… Another panicked thought flashed through my mind, a desperate plea, or excruciating pain, or horrifying fear… or a mixture. It was gone. There was somebody in the house, but where?

I didn't have to wonder anymore. In my bedroom. Man. Dead man. Guard from the prison. On the floor. It took me a while to realize that the primal scream I was hearing was coming from my mouth. I could hear growling from the front door, but nobody was coming.

"Eric! Eric!" I called his name, the first name that came to my mind.

"I got you, I got you," he said, finally pulling me away.

"He's from the prison! He beat me!" I repeated over and over. I could hear my desperate words, and I knew I was making no sense, but I couldn't stop the panic attack. Another flash from the man's mind told me he wasn't completely dead, so I changed my litany. "He's not dead! He's not dead!"

"Sookie!" Eric called my name to make me stop screaming. I whimpered and looked up, unable to catch my breath as fast as I was breathing. Eric held my gaze with his, trying to calm me. He put his huge hands on my cheeks to keep me from looking away. "Go to the front door and invite Pam inside," he said in a calm but commanding voice and waited until I nodded to release me.

I walked in a fog down the narrow hall. Pam was standing at the door in a semi-crouch, facing me but keeping Amelia back. "Pam, won't you come inside?" I said in a whisper, and she ran past me to my bedroom. I looked at Amelia who was also beside me in a flash. "He came to my house. He came to look for me. He came to kill me."

Finally my body decided that I didn't have enough oxygen in my brain to keep me lucid. Like one of those old television shows, everything started going black from the outside in, until there was nothing.

I'd never fainted before, not even in prison when I had a right to faint. The Stackhouses weren't fainters. How did I suddenly become one? I felt like I was inside a bad soap opera where all the women faint for no reason, usually from fright or pregnancy. The latter didn't apply to me, so that only left the fact that I'd been so afraid that I'd worked myself up into a state. It was odd that I was thinking this at the same time that I knew I was out.

"She's still weak," I heard Pam say. Hers was the first voice I heard when I started coming back from wherever I'd gone. That's right: Nurse Pam, who seemed to know more about human physiology than Amelia or me, the actual humans.

"Sookie? Sookie, sweetie the guard isn't here anymore," I heard Amelia say. I tried hard to come back, but I still found it impossible to open my eyes. It was like my body had hijacked itself.

"Give her a minute. Come, help me pack her things," Pam said, and I heard the faint rustle of fabric as they moved away.

I started taking stock of what I _could_ feel and hear. I couldn't hear much except the murmured words that Pam and Amelia exchanged in my bedroom. I felt like I was lying on something soft, maybe the couch. I did make out the scent of fabric softener, and I was warm, too warm. Maybe somebody had put a blanket on me. I was thirsty too. I felt movement of air, as if somebody had passed by me.

First things first: I was too hot and too thirsty to stay under the blanket. I did my best to reach for it and move it off me, and I must have done a good job because suddenly it wasn't there anymore and the cooler air hit my sweaty skin. I breathed a sigh of relief. Then I had to open my eyes because at some point I had to get up and get some water. When I was finally able to force my eyes to open, a pair of brilliant blue eyes were staring right back at me. I gasped.

Eric was close, very close. Inches away. He seemed to be studying me with open curiosity. Bill had done something similar to me, but never this close. I knew vampires had no qualms about staring openly at somebody, but Eric's staring was getting to me in more ways than one. I was afraid, and I was hot and bothered, all at the same time. He seemed to read my sudden inner turmoil and backed away slightly.

"Are you thirsty?" he asked, reaching behind him for a glass of water on the coffee table. He was kneeling on the floor beside the couch.

"Yes," I managed to say in a raspy voice.

Eric held out the glass and then saw me having trouble sitting up. He put the glass back down, snuck an arm under my back, took my hand, and lifted me slowly. Good thing, too, because I became instantly dizzy the moment I was upright. I closed my eyes and took deep breaths through my nose and out through my mouth. I didn't want the dizziness to turn into all out nausea.

"Here's your water," Eric said in a quiet voice.

I opened my eyes and took it, looking at nothing but the glass. Eric was still on his knees beside me. "You are scared of me," he said. It wasn't a question.

I looked at him finally. When he was being like this it was impossible to be scared of him. He saved my life, he was gentle, he smiled and laughed with me… and he told me the truth. I decided to use that to my advantage. "What happened in the truck? Did you want to eat me?" I asked. My voice had come out small and shy, but I refused to look away.

His expression didn't change. He was serious as he answered. "I closed your wounds as you drank blood from me. I tasted your blood. It is unusual and delicious, better than anybody else's. After giving you my blood I have been thirstier than usual, and it is your blood that I crave."

Well! I wanted the truth, I sure got it. I could have behaved like a foolish child and balked at everything he'd just said, but his very first statement stopped me. He closed my wounds as I drank blood from him, as he healed me. All of it had been an act of healing and caring, albeit a strange one. Now he was uncomfortable because of it. My southern hospitality must have kicked in for what I was about to do next. Hoping that he wouldn't do more than take my blood to quench his thirst, I tilted my head and leaned forward.

"Sookie, what are you doing?" he asked. I looked at him. He was trying to suppress a smile.

"It's obvious, Eric. You saved my life and now you're thirsty. Take my blood," I said, almost rolling my eyes. Almost.

"That is very generous of you, Sookie, but I can't take your blood. You are still weak and I need more than your body can handle at this time. But perhaps you will allow me one indulgence?" he said, asking the question with his eyes too. I nodded. I'd been about to give him my blood, and I was sure he wouldn't try to do anything too risqué with Pam and Amelia still in the house.

He leaned forward, pressing his body against my legs, and putting a huge hand on one side of my neck. I tilted my head into it reflexively. Eric's cool breath tickled my neck as he got closer. He took breath after greedy breath at the spot where my carotid should be. My skin erupted in goose bumps, and I had to keep telling myself that he was simply doing something I myself had done often: smell the decadence of a treat so I could fool my body and say no to the treat. I usually did it with cookies. Eric considered me the treat. The low rumble in his chest told me he was appreciative, and I felt a little dirty and a lot flattered.

"Ahem!" Amelia's thoughts hadn't intruded into mine until she actually said that damning word. She was picturing Eric and me in a much steamier embrace than the one she had found us in. I jumped but not very far, since Eric had snaked a hand behind my back as well. I just hadn't noticed it.

"Let's put these things in the truck," Pam said and they were gone out the front door.

Eric pulled away slowly. His fangs were out, but now that I knew why they didn't scare me. I almost wanted to touch them. Almost. He held me with his gaze stroking my jaw with his thumb. "Are you still scared of me?" he asked. He didn't lisp with his fangs out. I smiled at my errant thought and shook my head to answer him.

Then an awful thought struck me again, the reason I had fainted to begin with. "What was that man doing here? How did he die?"

"I don't know what he was doing here, but he wasn't dead. He'd suffered a hard blow to the head, but was still alive."

"Was?"

"He is no more."

"No more?"

Eric studied me for a moment and I knew why the man was no more. And a good thing too because that guard had been an abusive son of a bitch. He'd delighted in hitting me, and would laugh when I would cry. He'd been the one who had touched me and threatened to fuck me into submission if I didn't do as I was told. Giordano had been his name. Now I'd be able to forget it.

"Good," I said finally, feeling my nostrils flare in disgust. "So, who hit him over the head?"

"I don't know, Sookie. We can smell shifter inside the house, not Were, and not Merlotte. It reminds me of werepanther, but I cannot be sure since whoever it was had been in human form," he answered, helping me up. I stumbled into him and he righted me. "Do you see now why I cannot take your blood?"

"Yeah… I'm not all there yet. I guess I can't go dancing yet. My equilibrium is all out of whack," I said, walking but finding it difficult. My legs weren't wobbly exactly; it was more like the room wouldn't stay still.

"That's too bad. There's a room in my house that Pam likes to call the ballroom. I suppose you have to wait a bit longer to make use of it," he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

I stiffened. "You have a ballroom?"

"It's not really a ballroom. It's a large living room that doesn't have many furnishings. I didn't see the need for a living room, a den, and a library. Seems to me that the den and the library fill all the purposes for sitting down," he said. He sounded like a snob all of a sudden.

"Why did you get such a huge house, then?" I asked turning to look at him.

He shrugged. "It came furnished and had a sauna."

"You don't sweat."

"I know that, Sookie, but I like the feel and smell of a sauna."

It was time for me to remain quiet. Apparently we were moving into a mansion. Forty five minutes later I was proven right as we waited for a pair of gates to allow us entry into what looked like a Tudor mansion. It was surrounded by lush hedges and trees, sort of hidden from the street. The driveway was large and it led to a garage. We didn't park there, but in front of the main door. I thought I might faint again.

We started taking things out of the truck, with me stealing glances at the house. Since nobody let me carry much of anything, I was able to appreciate everything fully. We entered through the heavy wooden door that matched the façade perfectly, into a large luxurious foyer. I was scared of stepping on the very large, very expensive looking rug on top of the stone floor, but nobody else seemed to care. We walked through one of two doors that fed off the foyer on our left. That led to the stairs going up, to yet another as-yet-unidentified room, and to the kitchen. I knew I would get lost at some point.

The kitchen had tiled walls and granite countertops in pink, not at all what I pictured for Eric, the large vampire warrior. The stainless steel appliances sparkled and I was afraid to touch anything.

"You girls go ahead and pick how you want things arranged in your kitchen," Pam said and opened the fridge, "But keep these where we can reach them," she said, pointing at the many bottles of True Blood inside the shelves.

"We can share," Amelia piped up and set down the bags of groceries in her hands. There was nothing perishable so we continued with the tour.

Off the kitchen was the den, with a breakfast nook set into a circular turret or something. I would have to admire it later because we moved to a second set of stairs that we took to go upstairs. We reached a landing where Eric kept a large desk with a computer.

"You are both welcome to use this computer whenever you like," Eric said and then walked to one of the bedrooms.

It looked like it belonged to a princess. It was so beautiful… The bed was full of thick fluffy pillows on top of a dark pink comforter, and it had a pink canopy. Even though it was romantic, it still looked grown up. The best part was the window seat overlooking some lush part of the outside. I walked across the warm-colored wood floor, admiring the plush chairs and settee, the small private bathroom, and then looked out the window. It must have been the backyard of the house. I could see small lights winding through what must have been a path.

"You will like the backyard," Eric said at my elbow.

I turned around, getting ready to beg Amelia for this room, but I was alone with Eric. He read my confused expression as he set my suitcase on the bed. "Pam was going to show Amelia to a bedroom that she's sure to like as much as you like this one."

"Where do you sleep?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. Again.

"I sleep in the room across yours. Pam's and my rooms face the front of the house, which gets the least amount of sun," he answered. I knew he was watching my still-curious expression. "Come on," he said and held out his hand. I took it without thinking it too long and he pulled me to the room across. It wasn't what I expected at all. He had a large bed, a nightstand, a dresser, and a chair by the closet. The room was so cavernous that it needed more furniture than what it had… maybe another bed, another dresser or five… It was painted a light blue, and had one thing that my own room didn't have: a fireplace.

"Very nice," I said, because it was.

"Come look at the bathroom," he said, almost giddy. When I saw the bathroom I understood why. It screamed MAN. Black marble or black tile covered every surface except the walls, which were covered in mirrors. The bathtub was raised slightly and looked like it could fit a couple of people. But what made me start laughing like a crazy person were the two rubber duckies sitting pretty on a shelf next to the soaps.

"I thought you might like that. They were gifts from Pam," he said chuckling with me. "And here's the sauna," he said, pointing to a door. I opened the door and, sure enough, a small sauna. I'd only seen them in pictures, never in person. It did have a distinct smell, not unpleasant.

"This is very nice, Eric. I'm going to feel spoiled living here," I said, and I knew my voice was giving away many emotions. I'd become a weeper, and I felt my throat closing up with a lump I had to swallow.

"You're welcome to explore the house at your leisure, but please don't leave the grounds during the day, not until we know more about what's been happening in this neighborhood. You will also find that Pam's and my bedrooms are locked during the day. The locks set automatically as soon as the sun rises, and do not release until one of us opens them from the inside. The alarms on the house set as well, but I'll give you the codes in case you want to go to the yard," he explained as we walked back to my room.

I noticed that the door to Amelia's new room was closed and I stopped in my tracks. "Um… I think I'll go put the groceries away," I said moving to the stairs, and since Eric still held my hand, he came along too. I was not about to listen with either my ears or my mind to my best friend getting hot and heavy with her girlfriend.

The kitchen had an island that served as a breakfast counter, and Eric sat at one of the chairs while I put things away and rearranged how I wanted everything. They had flatware, glassware and dinnerware so fancy that I was scared to touch it. But I had to because it was all scattered here and there. I moved those things to cupboards closer to the sink and the dishwasher. A dishwasher! I was in heaven.

When I was done I grabbed some ice and water from the door of the fridge, happy that it worked because the vampires wouldn't have any need for such things. I hadn't checked if there was toilet paper yet. I leaned against the counter and drank my water leisurely, enjoying the air conditioning that had just turned on.

"Would you like the temperature of the house lower?" Eric asked, the first words he said since coming into the kitchen.

"What is it now?" I asked, because I was actually very comfortable.

"I set it at seventy two, but Pam sometimes complains."

"What does she have to complain about? Y'all don't sweat," I said, confused.

Eric smiled. "She likes it cold."

"No, Eric, I'm very comfortable at seventy two. I was just enjoying the fact that you have central air, is all."

"Would you like to see the rest of the house?" he asked, getting up.

"Yes, that would be great," I said, jumping from my spot and setting my cold glass back inside the fridge for later.

The rest of the house was full of antique furniture, more expensive rugs, and what he'd called his ballroom was pretty accurate, except that he did have another living room off the ballroom. We went downstairs to the basement. It had a table with an iron chandelier above it that sort of reminded me of a medieval setting. It also had a pool table and another bedroom that was light tight, for guests. We took a set of stairs from the basement that led to the backyard.

I was enchanted. "Eric, this is beautiful." The main part of the house had a stone deck. Then there was a wide expanse of grass and the walk I'd seen from my bedroom. Eric took my hand and led me that way. The path wound here and there, around trees and behind bushes, until we came upon the farthest part of the backyard, a gazebo, and a pond with a fountain. "So pretty."

"You don't have to remain inside all day. You can come out here and spend the day as you wish. I only ask that you use your gift to scan for anyone getting too close to the house so you can go back inside. But this whole neighborhood should be safe, as close as it is to the city," Eric said leading me to the gazebo. It had flowers using its walls as a trellis. It must have been old.

Eric turned around to face me and held his arms out in a dance stance. I shook my head but smiled. He smiled too and reached for me, making me stand within his stance. I put one hand on his shoulder and the other on his hand, while he put his free hand on my upper back, keeping his distance. He began humming a soft waltz and we danced to it. I'd never danced a waltz, but he led me easily through the steps. Once in a while he would make a face to make me smile or laugh. When we were done he bowed to me, which looked odd because he was wearing a T-shirt and cargo pants. I curtsied in my jeans and cap sleeve shirt. We should have both been wearing costumes from the eighteenth century.

Later that night I went to bed thinking about our impromptu dance. Eric seemed to be doing better with our proximity, for which I was very glad. I liked him as a person, and I didn't have many friends to begin with. I wasn't sure how wise it was to consider a vampire my friend, but Bill had been that to me before. Eric, however, was in another league in my mind. He was my savior, and he kept doing things that made me wonder whether he liked me as more than just someone to save who had nice-smelling blood. I could pretend I didn't like him, but I knew me better. He was a beautiful man, handsome in the extreme, and he'd been nice to me. What was there not to like? The fangs? The fact that he craved my blood? At least he had been honest. With one last sigh I drifted off to sleep, but the last thought I had was of Eric, caressing my neck, getting ready to bite.

**TBC**

**A/N: So… another slow chapter, with a little hoopla in the middle. The hoopla will start picking up soon.**


	15. Breathe

**A/N: **I changed a couple of things on Eric's house, but if anybody wants to see what my inspiration looks like, please follow this link and take out the extra spaces: http: / www . zillow . com / home details / 555 – Monrovia – St – Shreveport – LA – 71106 / 51343323 _ zpid /

Anyhoo…. So FF was having issues AGAIN, and some of us got alerts for new chapters but the link didn't work, or no alerts at all, or we were unable to log in altogether to actually DO anything like post new chapters, review, PM, etc. I'm really mad about that because I missed my favorite fic ("Immortal Beloved") with my coffee on Sunday morning. Those of you who read both AAD and WiaV will have noticed how quickly I updated both stories… the time lapse was FF's fault. I don't really write that fast.

* * *

**BREATHE**

I snuck into Sookie's bedroom as soon as her breathing became even and I knew she was asleep. Asleep, her feelings were muted and tranquil. It filled me with pride that I had been able to do this for her, to give her some peace. Her feelings inside me had provided me with unexpected insight. I could not abide her fear of me, so that I found myself confessing my craving for her blood. Sookie had taken it in stride, offering her neck and telling me to drink. I would have, had I not gorged on the blood of the brain-dead would-be attacker.

Now another feeling, one I never expected, had called me to her side: her lust. It called to me like a lighthouse to a ship lost at sea. It drew me to Sookie and I was helpless to resist. What a wondrous thing to experience: a human's lust, pure and innocent as Sookie. I was also curious, imagining I'd been the one to evoke her lust right before she had drifted into her dreams. Her feeling had dissipated at the same time as she succumbed to sleep.

As I watched her sleep she moved from a fetal position onto her back, the covers falling to her waist. She was wearing an old nightshirt, threadbare and faded. The sight of her breasts pushing against it almost made me forget myself. I left her room immediately before I gave in to my baser instincts. I had given into them enough for one night.

"You should just take her and get it over with," Pam said, coming out from Amelia's bedroom and looking about as satisfied as I felt frustrated.

"You of all people know I don't do that," I said cross.

"_You_ didn't see Sookie's face as you were filling your nose with her scent. It was the face of pure bliss," Pam said with a smug smile.

A growl built up deep in my chest. She would desist. "Stop, Pamela. Sookie is different and she deserves the respect you seem to have forgotten you owe me."

Pam's eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and fear. She lowered her eyes and nodded. "My apologies, Master. I did not understand and I am sorry for disrespecting you and Sookie."

I turned away and went to bed. It was nearly dawn and I still had a few things to take care of. The next night I would have to find out a lot of information, and I had to do it prior to calling my Queen on Monday. It would already be Saturday. After sending several messages using my laptop, I gave in to the small death of day.

When I awoke I felt… content. Not exactly happy, but better than I had been. Then I realized that it was Sookie who was feeling this way. I tried to find her within the house, but I had reinforced our day rooms too well, and I could not hear or smell anything from the other side of the heavy doors and walls. I showered quickly and dressed all in black. I checked my messages and many of my former employees were meeting me at the appointed time and place. The place was Fangtasia, which would remain closed for a little longer until things settled.

I made my way downstairs and heard Sookie talking to Amelia in the kitchen. It was fully dark outside, and Pam was just awakening. I was the one who could rejoin the world of the living much before the sun had fully set. Just as well. I wanted to have Sookie to myself for a bit before leaving her alone the rest of the night.

"Hey! He's alive! We heard you snoring all day long. You're one loud dude," Amelia said, making Sookie laugh. I could take a joke at my expense if it was meant to raise Sookie's spirits.

I gave Amelia my most sincere smile. "My apologies, fair ladies. I did not mean to hurt your sensibilities with my thunderous snores." My sentence elicited further hilarity from both young women, and I knew that Sookie in particular appreciated my gesture.

After I heated a bottle of True Blood I sat next to Sookie on the counter. She was still eating her dinner, but it seemed that Amelia was done.

"If you guys will excuse me, I'm going to take a shower," she said and left us alone. She must have been observant, or else I was making a fool of myself and she saw right through me. But the person that mattered was Sookie, who was developing a delicious blush on her cheeks at my proximity.

"Do you want to smell my neck today?" she asked, trying to suppress a smile. So _that_ was why she was blushing. She was trying to ask me a question that embarrassed her.

Without a word I leaned into her, never taking my eyes off her face. She closed her eyes as I approached, her breathing coming faster and her heart fluttering. That only made her scent that much stronger. I kissed her neck softly and pulled away quickly.

"No," I answered, and continued sipping my synthetic blood, the stuff that would never compare to human blood, and certainly not to Sookie's.

She turned to look at me, blinking fast. She was confused and flustered. She turned back and played with her food. I could almost see the wheels inside her head turning. "Is there something you want from me, Eric?" she asked finally.

It was my turn to be confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean in gratitude for saving my life, a quid pro quo," she turned to look at me, to wait for my answer.

"A quid pro quo? No. Never. All I ever wanted was to keep you safe. I must admit that now that I know you it would be my pleasure if we could become closer, but I will not withdraw my offer to keep you safe if being close to me is not something you want for yourself," I answered, keeping my promise to myself to be truthful with Sookie. She had been through enough.

She examined me with a curious expression before speaking. "I'm not sure of what I want. I want to feel and actually be safe. I believe you can do that for me. I think you're a great person, and I would like to get to know you more," she said utterly polite.

Sookie wanted to get to know me more. That lone statement gave me hope, but I had made a mistake in kissing her neck, and it was too late to take it back. If I wanted to earn her trust I had to do it another way. "Part of getting to know a person is learning why they do things. I am sorry for kissing your neck. I see now that it was too intimate. But I like to kiss, it's in my nature. Next time, may I kiss your cheek?"

She looked at me and bit her lip. She smiled and nodded. Right then, I knew she would be mine. I knew she would give herself to me, if I could only learn to be patient.

"I have to go now. Pam will stay with you tonight. Please don't go outside. I know you will be bored…"

"I found the library," she interrupted with a smile. "I won't be bored."

I returned her smile. "I'm glad, Sookie. Everything here is yours for the taking, even the True Bloods," I said and made her giggle.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Where have you been North Man?" asked Maxwell Lee, one of my trusted associates.

"I could ask you the same thing Lee," I said, walking past him to sit at my desk. I turned on the computer so we could have a live feed on the news.

"The Queen said to scatter, I scattered. You asked me to come back, I did," he answered.

"Where were you and what did you see?" I asked, wondering if he'd come across any unrest.

"I stayed with a friend, but soon found that the rural parts of the state are not the safest. I saw at least three instances of humans being culled by Weres. The Weres are becoming a nuisance, and I'm afraid they'll start biting the humans they can't sell, to boost their numbers," Lee said, confirming my worst suspicions.

"Who do you think is buying humans?" I asked, to see if he and I were in agreement on this point.

"I didn't see any transactions, but I imagine only the newer children would need to make purchases. I'm not that old myself, but I can certainly glamour my companion easily enough without having to spend money," Lee answered.

"I agree," I said as others started arriving.

I was happy with the turn out: Thalia Anofiadis, one of the strongest vampires in the area, brought another vampire about as old as her, Godric. He had escaped his home in Maryland when the humans started collecting vampires for research. They had both been turned around the beginning of the Roman Empire. Indira Nishad brought her friend Bill Compton, who was also Sookie's friend from Bon Temps. My two usual bartenders at Fangtasia, Long Shadow and Chow decided to lend a hand as well.

"First I would like to know what's been going on around Shreveport, if any of you know. I have been away for a few days," I said without preamble.

"There have been some abductions, but nothing on the scale of what's happening in the rural areas. The human government officials are in hiding, but most humans around Shreveport still report to work and are keeping everything running, as you can see. They don't dare travel alone, and all the stores have been cleaned out of guns and ammunition," Long Shadow said.

"What about truck deliveries and the like?" I asked.

Indira answered my question. "Those are still being made in the major cities. Most truckers don't go very far off the Interstates. If they have a delivery for a small town, they simply take it to the next city nearby and stock up the shelves there. It's causing a problem because the people living in rural areas then have to travel farther to get their groceries, and that is how many of them are getting abducted: returning home."

I turned my attention to the screen and clicked through to the news. "Did any of you hear about the rumors that Weres are engaging in battles with humans?"

"I did hear something," said Godric. "The humans get together and attack the area where other humans are being sold. The problem is they underestimate what the Weres are capable of and end up either dead or as food. And I have to tell you, Eric, this is not something I have ever encountered before. It is, quite literally, out of control. If the Weres don't stop assaulting humans, something bad is going to happen."

"Agreed. I have not lived this long by tainting my food source with fear and upending the status quo," Thalia interjected.

I thought about several things. "Do we agree that Sophie-Anne is still our Queen?" I asked, trying to decide whether or not to follow her.

Everyone seemed to be in agreement that Sophie-Anne was still the leader of Louisiana. "Alright. She asked me to call her on Monday. I will do so, and I will ask for your help with whatever instructions she gives us. Do we agree on that?" There was collective agreement.

"I have to scout my neighborhood for any threats tonight. Would anybody care to join me?" I asked, and got Indira and Bill to join me. Indira's house was only a few miles from mine, so I agreed to help her scout her area as well.

We walked the neighborhood, keeping to the shadows and smelling the air for shifters and Weres. We found many houses with shifters, but for several miles we found nothing other than humans. In one of the more deserted streets we found a lead. The smell of blood lingered like fog in the air, and all three of us moved forward. I whispered that I had been in a similar situation. The Weres wounded some of their captives to use as chum, so to speak. And we were the sharks.

At the end of the cul de sac, behind the very last house, we found a wooded area where a half dozen Weres had made a small camp. There were about a dozen humans, two of them bleeding profusely, their deaths almost upon them. In silent agreement, Indira, Bill and I moved to get ourselves in the best striking position. We each had to take two Weres.

I zeroed in on my two. Since I was the strongest, I was to bring down the alpha male. This would be easy. The alpha was eating dinner. His companion, however, was holding the gun. I was sure to get a few gunshot wounds, and the prospect was not very enticing. But I would have to take the alpha down first to make sure the others would be disoriented, and to give Indira and Bill the best chance to get everybody else.

As fast as I could run I took my place behind him, holding the alpha's head within my hands. With a satisfying crunch I severed his neck vertebrae. The alpha's body fell lifeless unto the ground, the head lolling here and there. As expected, the first bullet lodged itself into my shoulder, the other in my gut. I quickly grabbed the gun away from the alpha's companion, but did not dispatch him as fast. I wanted blood, and he would have to give it. I glamoured him without any resistance, amazed that I had been able to do it so easily. He remained still for me, as I sank my fangs into the dirty neck. Were blood wasn't the best, but this was not pure Were blood. This was a turned Were. As I drank I watched for Indira and Bill, who had taken their cue from me and drained their own Were victims.

Our job was far from done. We dug a pit and buried the dead bodies of the Weres, so that others would have a hard time discovering them. Then we set out to glamour every human and set them free. We only erased their memories of how their attackers had met their deaths. The two humans that had been bleeding profusely had perished.

When we asked the rest of the humans what had happened, we found out that they were part of a family that lived on two farms south of Bon Temps. Both houses had been burned to the ground by the Weres, and they had nowhere to go.

"We have to move fast, Eric," Indira warned, and she was right. We were not the only vampires around, and not everyone in the area owed Sophie-Anne their loyalty.

"We will take them to the house we use for an address," I said. It was furnished, to give it the look of being inhabited, but it was empty. It was perhaps too small for ten people, but when we told the humans of our offer, they took it gratefully and even offered to pay rent. "There is no need to think of that at this time," I said, and helped them climb into the Weres' pickup trucks.

Indira and I drove the two foul smelling vehicles, and we delivered the humans to the house without consequence. The patriarch of the family, a man named Jim, took the keys to the trucks from me.

"Use them once to get whatever you need, but then lose them," I said to him. He seemed smart enough to grasp the concept. Either way, if the trucks were still there the next night, I would dispose of them myself. I handed the man whatever bills I had in my wallet to get them started with at least food.

"Excuse me, sir. Your name?" he asked with a soft southern accent reminiscent of Sookie's.

"Eric the North Man," I answered and smiled my most beatific smile.

"I just want you to know that we never had no issues with your people. I'd even met Vampire Bill there a few times when I visited Bon Temps. He's good people, and so are you," Jim said, extending his hand. Sookie had done the same thing to me to show her gratitude. I had no choice but to shake the man's hand before leaving.

Indira, Bill and I scouted the neighborhood a bit longer, but by four in the morning we had not found anything else worthy of note. I asked Bill to stop by my house the next night and he agreed, and then we parted ways.

I started to walk home slowly at first then the thought of sweet Sookie made me pick up the pace. I entered my property through the backyard, keeping to the shadows and admiring the beautiful sight that met my eyes: Sookie, sitting on her window seat reading a book, looking more like the princess that belonged in that room than the sweet southern belle that she was. She looked out over the backyard, zeroing in on my location. She couldn't see me, but she knew where I was. That was some incredible power she possessed. I decided to come out of hiding, and glided up to her window. I was rewarded with her brilliant smile.

Sookie scrambled to open the window for me, and I felt like Romeo coming to see his Juliet. But once inside her room that vision dimmed replaced by the horror on Sookie's face.

"Eric… What happened to you?" she whispered, pointing at my torn shirt, the blood stains that did not fade into the black color of it. "Did somebody shoot you?"

"Yes," I answered. She frowned and looked at me, waiting for more. "I'm fine. I'm healed."

She took my hand, led me to her bathroom and sat me on the toilet's closed lid. She reached for my shirt and took it off in one swift move. I couldn't believe how bold she had become. Sookie began examining my wounds, now no more than pink puckered marks on my shoulder and my stomach. After moistening a washcloth, she began cleaning me.

"You're covered in blood," she said, cleaning my face where the blood had spattered, cleaning my shoulder, rinsing the cloth over and over to get all the blood off me. I could have simply taken a shower, but I was enjoying her gentle touch. More than that, it seemed she felt the need to tend to me. "There," she whispered when she was satisfied that I was clean. The whole time I couldn't help but stare at her and the way her shirt would rise ever so slightly to reveal the tanned skin of her abdomen.

"Can you tell me what happened?" she asked, turning her whole attention to me.

I stood up and guided her to the seating area in her room so I could talk to her properly without feeling like I wanted to kiss the soft skin of her waist every time she moved. We both sat down and I told her everything that happened, and the solution I had devised for taking care of the people that had been abducted.

"That was very generous of you," Sookie said. "You seem to be on a roll with the saving stuff, huh?" she asked with a wan smile.

"One of these days I will tell you my whole history, Sookie. This is not the first time I help people, and I am always glad that I can do it. These are also not the first bullet wounds I have received in my life," I pointed at my chest in general.

Her eyes widened in shock but I smiled to tell her it was no big deal. I stood up and her eyes followed my movement before she stood too. I kissed her cheek good night, and left her before I gave in to my desire to bury my face into her neck.

When I entered my room I knew something was different. For one, my sheets had been changed. The hamper in my bathroom was empty. Pam had never done my laundry. I heard a knock on my door. It was Pam.

"Sookie insisted on doing our laundry while you were gone. Thought you ought to know. She washed and folded all your unmentionables," she said and smiled wickedly before leaving.

Sookie had gone to sleep right away, and before I did the same I visited her room. She had fallen asleep in a fetal position, holding on to my shirt.

**TBC**


	16. My Flaws are Open Season

**A/N: **I thank all of you who braved your frustration with FF and read and tried to review all your favorite fanfics (including mine). I haven't been able to reply to any reviews because when I actually have the time to do it, the website won't let me log in. Please know that I have not forgotten about any of my faithful readers. With that in mind, I'm going to keep on writing so you guys can keep on reading, and I'll post whenever the website lets me log in. Some of you have been nice enough to read and then review later, and I'm really touched by all your love for the story and your perseverance.

**We're going back in time a few days, to see what happened with Sam. Please keep in mind that Sam is moving faster than Sookie & Co, because he doesn't need to stop during the day. **

**BEWARE! This chapter is kinda graphic. This is why the story is rated M!**

* * *

**MY FLAWS ARE OPEN SEASON**

I left the bedroom and I could hear Sookie's harsh sobs, but I was out of control and couldn't care. I left the house and paced the backyard. I hated being a shifter, a being ruled by emotions and hormones and whatever other magic allowed me to change my human form. Changing came with a high price. At the time I didn't know why I had acted that way towards Sookie. All I knew was that she had something I wanted, and she would not give it to me. I paced and paced, sometimes walking to where the cotton fields began, sometimes only around the clothesline. I don't know how long I did that. All I know is that I was ready to snap and simply take Sookie. I wanted her. Sookie was about to pay the price of my own curse, when Derek the Were and Heather the werelion stepped around the house.

"What's the matter, Shifter? Blue balls?" Derek said with a sneer. It reminded me of all the times I'd gotten into fights while in the Marines. It's amazing the number of Weres that join the armed forces. I also remembered that I was much stronger than any other type of shifter.

With that one single mind-numbing knowledge pressing on my brain, I walked to Derek and delivered a punch to his face. All my frustration was behind that blow. He immediately shifted, and half a second later he was met with a mirror image. I'd shifted too, and had done it much faster than him. Derek was my target and he was about to get ripped to pieces. I tore at his neck, at his muzzle; I was much faster and bit his hind legs. He tried to run away but I simply rammed into him. When the coward faced me again I was ready. I bit into one of his front legs, hearing the gratifying sound of a bone breaking. I was the victor, and to the victor went the spoils.

I shifted to wait for my prize, the voluptuous Heather, who knew better than to try to run away. She lied in wait, opening her legs in invitation. I walked to her with purpose, wanting to bury my cock inside her and pretend she was someone else. I closed my eyes and took her hard, ramming her with the force of my frustration. I grunted because she didn't smell right, and when she moaned she didn't sound right. It took me longer to come for trying so hard to picture somebody different beneath me. But when I came I yelled the right name.

The night was once again quiet as everyone that had watched returned to whatever they had been doing. I remained seated on the grass with my head in my hands, thinking. If I returned to Sookie I would want her again. If I didn't… maybe it would be better if I kept my distance. I'd always been able to resist my more primal urges to mate, but something about Sookie's fertile time had made me a deranged maniac. I'd never noticed it before, or perhaps I had and had been able to resist with all the other smells in the bar. This time was different: she had shared my bed, we had been in constant contact, and her scent had clung to me as well.

"Oh, Sookie…" I whispered into my hands.

"Sam!" Jeff called my name and was running to me. I looked up to see that he had my clothes in his hands. "Sookie left. She took your truck and left," he said worried.

I was immediately on my feet, putting on my clothes. My fear started creeping in. What had I done? Had she seen what happened? In my bloodthirsty rage everything had been a haze. I was only aware of the fight and the need to mate. I cursed loudly and set off at a run, wishing I had thought of turning into something more interesting than a human. I grasped at straws, trying to find some animal around me that I could shift into. My luck started looking up when I spotted an owl. I shifted in mid-run and soared high. How far had Sookie gone and in what direction? My best bet was to go west, in the direction of home. Sure enough, after several minutes I saw my truck by the side of the road.

The cabin was littered with glass from a window that shattered, and I could smell Sookie's blood. Who took her? And where? In desperation I shifted back and reached under the driver's seat. As powerful as a true shifter was, without imprinting on an animal, I was nothing, so I kept books with animal pictures inside my vehicles and at home. I quickly found the page I was looking for and turned into a bloodhound. I needed to find Sookie, and I needed to do it quickly.

With my nose in the air I detected a minuscule trace of her scent on the road. I followed at a run, but bloodhounds are not usually bred to run, so my progress was not as fast as I would have liked. In the distance I heard a noise, as if a tree had suddenly exploded. I ran towards the noise, finding that Sookie's scent was getting heavier in that direction.

I kept thinking of the giant apology I would owe Sookie, and about the fact that I had completely ruined whatever hopes I had for a relationship with her. But she was still mine to protect, and I had failed her miserably. The minutes ticked by as I ran through the wood to God-only-knew-what, and suddenly all I could smell was blood. Blood everywhere, blood from several different sources, and one of the sources was Sookie. The heavy penny smell told me there was lots of it nearby, and I followed.

There were several bodies lying pell-mell wherever they had landed. A quick look at a truck wrapped around a tree told me they had been the unfortunate victims of an accident. This is what Jeff and Judy had warned us about: Weres transporting humans, selling them to vampires for food.

Before I could act upon what I was seeing, the tall figure of a vampire lifted Sookie's lifeless body from the forest floor, and in a flash he was gone. Damn fucking vampires! There was nothing I could do to follow, so I tracked her scent instead, running as fast as the bloodhound's ungraceful legs could carry me. I heard howling of Weres, probably going to the scene of the accident. I ran faster.

My running paid off when I heard murmuring near a hedge. I was still too far, but continued running, the smell of Sookie's blood propelling me forward. When I finally thought I had reached the vampire who had Sookie, I was proven wrong by how fast he moved through the wood again. I continued tracking when the trail ended. In the distance I could make out the distinct shape of a man in mid-flight against the night sky.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I drove nonstop to Bon Temps after fixing a broken V belt in my truck. Sookie must have gunned the truck's engine so viciously that the belt had broken. The truck had stopped working and that was how she had gotten caught by Weres. It was all my fault and I could only hope that the vampire was not out to harm Sookie and would take her to her home. It was too much to hope for, I knew that, but it was the only thing I had. Sookie was gone.

I went straight to Sookie's but I knew immediately that she hadn't been there. The pain of that knowledge filled me with sadness so great that I could barely see straight driving home. My mourning for Sookie would have to wait, however, because when I got to my house I was confronted by Jason.

"Where's my sister?" he asked, looking around and inside my truck. "Where's Sookie, Sam?" Jason looked like he'd been bitten several times on his arms and neck, and I wondered who had done the biting and what he would turn into during the next full moon. But I had to answer the man's questions first.

"Sookie was abducted by Weres. When I went to look for her she was badly injured, and a vampire took her away. I don't know if he finished her or took care of her. I couldn't follow him anymore after he started flying," I said to Jason.

Without a word Jason walked to me with sure steps and punched me hard in the jaw. I let him. It was the least I deserved. "I left her in your care! Do you have any idea what she's been through? How she has suffered? And you go and lose her? Motherfucking shifter! I could kill you!"

Instead of killing me, Jason began pacing. "Look," he began again, "when Calvin and I got to the house he says he could smell Sookie's friend Amelia, the one that sometimes helps out at your bar. He said he could also smell a vamp or two."

"Calvin Norris from Hot Shot?" I asked, wondering if he had been the one to bite Jason.

"Calvin understands what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to get my family back, and Sookie is it. I trusted you with her life, Sam Merlotte. You _know_ how extraordinary she is, and you _know_ that she needs protection. How could you leave her unprotected long enough for her to get abducted? You know what? I don't care what you did or didn't do. You're gonna help me find her, or so help me God I will kill you with my bare hands. Do what you need to do in your house, but be prepared to come with me when I get back," he said and started walking away.

My curiosity got the better of me. "Where are you going to look for her?"

"I'm going to Amelia's house, and Calvin is going to our grandmother's house. After that you and I are going to Monroe to talk to some vampires there. Maybe they know the flying vampire you're talking about and we can find him, if nothing else to run a stake through his chest." Jason walked away and got in his truck, driving fast and sending gravel and dirt everywhere.

How was I supposed to tell him that Sookie was most probably dead?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"The man that raped Sookie came to the house looking for her," Calvin Norris began and I thought I might puke. Sookie _had_ been raped. She said she hadn't, but I should have known better. Calvin continued, "I left him for dead, so if anybody else decides to come to the house, they will know their fate. In a couple of days I'll remove the body and clean up."

"Thanks, Calvin. I owe you," Jason said and turned to me. "What's wrong with you?"

"Sookie said she hadn't been touched. I asked her if she'd been raped and she said no, that they had only threatened her. She lied," I said, my voice coming out thick with guilt.

"Of course she lied, asshole. Like she was gonna tell you something like that happened to her. She was dating you, remember?" Jason yelled.

"That's why it's so troubling to him, Jason. Take it down a notch," Calvin said. As Jason's new packmaster, Jason had to obey. "Sam, tell me what happened. Start at the beginning. Why did you leave Sookie unattended?"

I swallowed bile. This wasn't something that Jason would understand, not now, not ever. Turned shifters never had to worry about the imperative to mate with a fertile female. Jason was not in a position to listen to this story. He would kill me for sure, and I was fine with death, but first I wanted to see if Sookie was alive.

Calvin saw my hesitation and told Jason to excuse himself. "This is Sam's business, Jason. I will tell you the parts that concern you," Calvin said, and Jason left grudgingly.

I'd always trusted Calvin to be a reasonable leader. I hoped he would understand. His expression never wavered as I told him everything that happened.

"You understand that now you are beholden to Jason to find the girl?" Calvin asked me when I finished.

"Yes, of course. I came here in the hopes that the vampire had brought Sookie home. My next step was to go find her myself," I explained.

"Very well. I'll handle Jason. You better get your things ready," Calvin said. I was being dismissed inside my own house. But, again, I deserved that and so much worse.

By sunset we were on our way to Monroe. My new hope was to find the flying vampire, and that Sookie was indeed alive and with him. I also hoped that Sookie could forgive me. If anybody deserved to take my life, it was her.

**TBC**

**A/N: So… was Sookie raped or not? She says one thing, they believe another. Is our heroine more damaged than we believe?**


	17. Come On Closer

**A/N: **I received so many wonderful reviews to Sam's POV. I know many people didn't like Sam, still don't like Sam, won't ever like Sam, and that's okay. What I mean about "wonderful" is how much thought and passion y'all exhibited when commenting on the situation. My hope (always) is to offer up something that makes people say an internal "hmm…" and from the reviews I think I may have come close. So thank you very much to all who read, reviewed, favorited and alerted this story.

Among the collective "hmms" I also want some "AWWW." After all, this story does have the "Romance" label.

* * *

**COME ON CLOSER**

I woke up feeling better than the day before. Maybe it had to do something with the bright sun shining through my pink bedroom. Maybe it was because Eric's scent was still very close. I had debated whether I should or shouldn't take his shirt to bed, but in the end I gave in. It was a comfort, like a security blanket. Suddenly I felt like Linus, and the dirty, bloody shirt was my blue blanket. But it smelled like Eric, the scent I associated with safety. I didn't care about the blood. His blood had saved my life; it was a part of me too. All I cared about was that this was Eric's shirt.

The book I'd been reading when Eric had shown up the night before was lying open on the window seat. I'd been reading it on and off all day the day before. At first I thought it would be a scary book, a horror. I don't know what made me pick it to begin with. But the more I read the more I realized why I'd been drawn to it. Everything was magical, from the magical rug that held a whole race of people weaved into it, to the way one of the characters recited poems while making love to his girl. I remembered how I'd felt when I'd first discovered vampires and shifters: that the world was a magical place and I'd been missing out.

I still thought the world was a magical place. I'd been saved by drinking the blood of a vampire, for goodness sake! Vampires were supposed to be the ones doing the blood drinking, not Crazy Sookie. I thought about that and held Eric's shirt tighter. He said he wanted to be close to me and the only thing that ran through my mind at that statement was WHY? I was just Crazy Sookie from Bon Temps, not even an ordinary girl but one who could hear every disgusting, perverted thing that everyone was thinking. Nobody recited poems in their heads. I was not like the girl in the book with the poet lover. Oh, but how I wish I would have been…

As I wished for the impossible, the spot where Eric kissed my neck tingled and brought back the memory of the kiss. I lied on my sunlit bed and replayed it over and over in my mind, switching it from my neck to my lips. Something inside me ignited, and I curled up into my covers, burying my face in the shirt and suddenly wanting to do so much more. All the bad stuff that had happened to me lied forgotten at the foot of the bed while I satisfied this sudden need.

My fingers squirreled their way inside my panties, finding the swollen spot and giving it some light attention, remembering Eric in my bathroom with his shirt off, the way his eyes had watched my every move, the way his muscles danced as he moved, remembering the soft skin under my fingers, then imagining that same soft skin pressed against mine without the barrier of clothes. I didn't last very long, and sighed his name as my body trembled with sweet explosions.

I waited until my breathing returned to normal to make the effort of getting up. Unfortunately, as I waited, all the bad things that I'd managed to forget for a few glorious minutes revisited me. I was being unfair to myself by holding pity parties while in the safety of Eric's house. So I snapped out of this particular one and got up. I took a shower with the wonderful soap Pam had given me, washed my hair with the expensive shampoo and made sure to lather my hair with the top-of-the-line conditioner. After that I dried my hair perfectly straight, put on a pair of shorts and a nicer tee, and off I went in search of food.

I stopped short at my door. There was a note tucked half in, half out, lying on the floor. I took it and read the fancy cursive: _Thank you for doing my laundry. It was a very thoughtful gesture. Don't do it again, you are my guest. Yours truly, E._

Huh? Oh, whatever! I was used to working, and remaining idle was simply not my style. So Eric was just going to have to get over it. I smiled in spite of myself and tucked the note into the back pocket of my shorts. I had plans that included dusting and mopping.

Pam said she would ask Eric to take us to the grocery store tonight. We'd had to wait until we knew the state of the neighborhood. From what Eric had told me, he'd dispatched the threat already. I really did hope he would agree to an outing to the market. We were in sore need of milk. And bread. And eggs. And bacon, what I wouldn't have given for some bacon. And a fresh steak. There was a grill on the deck, and Amelia and I had great plans for it.

"You look chipper," Amelia piped up from the den. She was drinking her coffee at the table inside the breakfast nook. That's what she'd called the circular part of the room that I thought was like a castle turret. She was watching TV, but nothing worthy of note. She'd found a movie. I wasn't sure if it was a DVD (oh, sorry, a Blu-Ray), or if she'd found the movie channels.

"I slept the whole night through," I said as explanation for my better mood and headed for the kitchen. She followed me to refill her coffee.

"I don't suppose it had anything to do with a certain vampire who I saw coming out of your room in a certain state of undress," she said. Or asked. I wasn't sure.

"No," I rolled my eyes. I told her what Eric had found and done the night before, about the Weres who had abducted Jim and his family. I remembered Jim vaguely from when he came to Merlotte's once in a while.

"Wow… he really is taking this saving people thing seriously. But you remember I told you he was a drottin, a Viking warrior chief," she said. I vaguely remembered the conversation, so I was glad she had reminded me.

"I was kinda out of it when you told me. What does that have to do with the price of eggs?" I asked.

"He. Was. A. Warrior. Honestly, Sookie. I think you're still out of it. He's not afraid of battle. He's been in battle for over a thousand years. Do you know how long that is?"

I made a face to answer her question. "You're stupid."

"No, you're stupid. Think about it: a thousand years of experience in the sack. If you were waiting for a more perfect lover, there he is, sleeping right across your room."

"Amelia!"

"Sookie!" She stood up with her hands on her hips. "Have you seen the way he looks at you?"

"You're imagining things," I said, but lacked conviction. I _had_ seen the way he looked at me. Several times, in fact. Sometimes it was scary, but sometimes it was sexy as hell. "Oh… fudgesicle on a stick."

Amelia started laughing at me, but I could only glare at her. She finally calmed down when she realized I was staring daggers in her general direction. "Look, sweetie, I happen to know you better than anybody else. I know you're waiting for the right one, but for you there may be no such thing. You should just give in to the guy and see what it's like. At the very least you won't hear his mind."

I was livid. "I'm not about to have sex with Eric just so I can get it over with and because I can't read his mind! I've been through hell and back. I've had people beat me and touch me and threaten to rape me. They made me sort between shifters and humans, and the shifters went to prison. I put them there! I saw the moment my grandmother left this earth. My friend of many years made me feel like trash because I wouldn't sleep with him, so then he went and had sex in front of half a dozen people. Do you really think that having sex with Eric is going to make it ALL better?"

Amelia was looking down, and I saw her wipe her cheek. She was crying for me, and I immediately felt guilty. She hadn't asked me anything about what had happened, and was letting me pick the time and place to have that conversation. And here I was acting like an idiot because something she said offended me. _Everything_ she ever said offended me. That was just the way she was, and I loved her for her bluntness.

"Sookie, all I'm saying is that, in general, you shouldn't close yourself off from new experiences. You will heal quicker if you move on," she said in a quiet voice and left the kitchen.

I sat outside with my cup of coffee, enjoying the warm breeze and the high sun. I'd woken up late because I'd gone to sleep past four in the morning. Maybe I was becoming a vampire too. A look at my tanned skin told me that wasn't the case.

Invariably my thoughts returned to Eric. Evidently he didn't think of me as Crazy Sookie, and he would never see that side of me. He would never get a blank stare and a nervous smile while I tried to listen to his brain and mouth at the same time. So, in truth, he saw the real me.

The real Me had been buried for a month now, a whole month of my life lost. It could be worse. Some people lost years, decades. I'd only lost a month. The real Me wasn't scared of new experiences. Amelia was right. The real Me had begged her to come along to a vampire bar. The real Me had the guts to ask Vampire Bill to accompany us to the bar. In essence, I'd asked the guy out. The real Me saw wonder where others saw fear. The real Me apologized to her best friend for my being a butthead.

Amelia accepted my apology, particularly when I told her of my plans to clean house. She was always way neater than me, and prided herself in keeping everything so spic and span that it shined. Even the mud in her backyard was clean.

She figured out how to use the stereo with the 60-CD changer, popped every manner of CD she could find from Eric's collection, and we blasted the thing. It wasn't like the vampires were going to wake up, and the house was removed enough from others that no neighbors would hear. When we were done inside, we opened the doors from the den to the stone deck and had a little party. That's how come Eric found us jumping around the backyard, singing along to "Build Me Up Buttercup."

When Amelia saw Eric she collapsed on the lawn laughing her head off, while I just kept on singing off key and skipping on the deck. Eric's expression was priceless: it was a mixture of surprise, wonder, and confusion. He truly didn't know what to do with us. He didn't know that Amelia and I had done this type of thing since we were little girls and Gran was the one holding the radio out on the porch while we frolicked on the lawn and pretended to be singing fairies.

"I gotta pee!" Amelia announced and ran inside.

I stopped dancing but couldn't make myself stop grinning in embarrassment. Eric finally settled on one expression, and smiled a toothy grin right back at me, holding out his hands. I took them, and he began moving in time with the song, leading me but not. We were far enough apart that I could do my own thing, but I ended up copying his movements. For a large man, he was a very graceful dancer. As for me, I was in heaven. I'd found another partner in crime.

That little dance was nothing. When the next song started, it was a hopping swing song, and the first thing Eric did was twirl me into his arms so we could dance properly. One thing was to dance swing when you were going at it alone to simply learn it, quite another was when you were dancing with a partner, and it was completely different when your partner was exceptionally strong. I found myself squealing in delight as he lifted me, dipped me, twirled me effortlessly time and time again. He ended the song by holding me up above his head, and I was trying to remember what Johnny had said to Baby so I wouldn't flop like a fish above Eric. I looked down, still smiling like a fool, to find that Eric was looking up, smiling just as widely.

He brought me down slowly, setting me gently back on the ground. I envied him the lack of sweat. He looked cool as a cucumber. "Walk with me?" he asked, and I nodded, taking his offered hand and following him to the gazebo. Holding hands didn't feel awkward after all the dancing. We sat on the bench side by side, and he simply looked at me. I couldn't keep my eyes away, but all the while I was thinking what I'd done wrong. He had that kind of expression.

"You cleaned the house," he said finally.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I wasn't sure what I'd been thinking he was going to say, but I had already prepared for this particular argument. "Your house wasn't dirty, Eric, we know, but we just like to move. Yesterday I took it easy and read most of the day, but today I needed to _do_ something. Can you understand?"

He looked at me for a moment. "You are my guest here. I never expected you to do anything other than rest."

"I can't do that," I said immediately. "As a matter of fact tomorrow I might have issues because there's very little left to do, and the next day will be worse."

"So you need a job, an occupation," he concluded for me.

"Yes. I know you're paying for everything here, and I can't even fathom what kind of money you have, but I can't live off your generosity and not contribute something to the household." I was pretty adamant on that point. If he didn't give me a task, I would find one.

"How good are you at painting?" he asked.

"I painted all of Gran's house by myself about a year ago," I said, seeing where this was going. Yay! Long term project.

"Alright. The pink colors, except those in your room, are driving me crazy in the main areas. I would like something different, other than pink or its derivatives. I'll leave the color scheme up to you. Is that something you feel like doing?" he asked.

My smile gave me away. "That would be great! You're going to love it, you'll see," I promised.

"As long as you love it, I'm sure I will too. Thank you, Sookie," he said, and kissed my cheek. I noticed he'd taken a deep breath as he pulled away.

A sudden curiosity nagged at me, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to ask the question or not. So when I did it came out all mumbled. "What do I smell like to you?"

He laughed, so I knew I hadn't offended him. "May I?" he asked pointing at my neck. I nodded and he moved close. I could feel the tip of his nose on my skin, and immediately got goose bumps and, due to my earlier lonesome adventures, I also felt a tickling sensation south of my navel. "You smell like the sun, like lilacs, and citrus and vanilla and spice, all together," he said in a low deep voice against my skin. Eric took a deep breath and ran the tip of his nose from my neck to my earlobe. I closed my eyes, promising myself that I wouldn't move, even though my heart was hammering so hard inside my chest that it would start moving my body any minute.

I felt a soft kiss at the bottom of my jaw, then another further up, then another on my cheekbone. He was making a circuit of all the areas that were technically part of my cheek, keeping the kiss within the confines of the permission I'd given him. I sighed, taking in his now-familiar scent, and then I had to take a deep breath to fill my lungs back up with air.

That's when he pulled away. I turned to look at him, and his fangs were out. My impression of him in the woods had been accurate: he looked beautiful and terrible at the same time. I felt the familiar urge to touch his fangs, and to that end I brought my hand up, but couldn't follow through. Instead I put my hand on his cheek. I figured this would be okay, to touch his cheek. He had just kissed mine kind of thoroughly.

"How are your wounds?" I asked when I found my voice again.

"Gone," he said. His eyes were roaming over my face, and even though the gazebo was dimly lit, I knew he could see me perfectly fine. He brought his hand up to hold mine on his cheek.

We were interrupted suddenly by Pam's voice from the house. "Eric! Sookie! We have company!" she called.

I jumped, almost removing myself, but Eric was still holding my hand tight. "Can we talk later?"

I calmed down a little bit and smiled. "Yes," I said. I was very much looking forward to talking more. And maybe holding his hand more. And maybe something more.

We walked hand in hand back to the house, and once inside I could hear Amelia talking excitedly and a male voice laughing. It sounded familiar, and when we rounded the corner of the den into the kitchen, I found out why. It was Bill.

"Vampire Bill!" I said and practically threw myself at him. He caught me easily and returned the hug.

"Sookie! Oh, Sookie, I never thought I'd see you again. We were all so worried," Bill said putting his hand on my hair. It wasn't an intimate touch, more like a fatherly touch. He pulled away and took my face in his hands, to examine me. "You look well," he said, frowning.

"I had to heal her," Eric said in a soft tone, like he was really sorry he'd had to do that, but not because he didn't want to. More like he didn't _want_ to _have_ to. It was weird.

Bill's expression softened. "When we heard about you and Sam, and then come to find that they had taken Jason..." he shook his head, "We thought for sure..." he didn't finish his sentence. "Are they here?"

I shook my head and felt tears welling up. "I don't know where Jason is, and Gran..." my voice broke. Bill and Gran had been really good friends. "They took Gran too and let her die," I croaked the sentence out, a sob stealing my voice again. Bill hugged me again and let me cry on his shirt. "I didn't know about Adele, Sookie. Word was that she had been taken to a hospital." Bill seemed to take a deep breath. "Where's Jason?" he asked of everyone else.

"We promised Sookie we'd help her find him. They got separated when they left the prison," Eric answered.

We spoke at length about how to go about finding my brother. Amelia offered to bewitch another compass, but she was missing a few components and it was the wrong lunar cycle. We'd have to wait. In the meantime, Bill offered to start asking questions around Bon Temps. Finally the conversation took an unwelcomed turn.

"Where's Sam?" Bill asked, not knowing that this was a sore subject.

"If you all will excuse me," I said getting up with every intention of using the bathroom. Instead of going to the nearest one downstairs, I went up to my room. Eric, Pam and Amelia could fill Bill in about what happened with Sam. I didn't have to be there. Just the thought of how he'd taken that woman in front of all those people made my stomach churn in disgust.

I sat on the settee with my head between my knees, trying to think of something, anything other than Sam. It was truly a blessing that I didn't remember anything that happened afterwards. When Eric had told me I'd been abducted by Weres, it felt like a story about someone else, rather than an experience. I was glad. If I didn't remember, then I could pretend it didn't happen. But Sam... Yeah... he really _had _been horrible to me, and I'd never thought him capable of it.

A soft knock on my open door made me rectify my posture. It was Eric. "Bill wants to say goodbye, and then we are going to the grocery store. Is that all right?"

I nodded and got up slowly, feeling the weight of the world pressing down on my shoulders. I walked past Eric out the door and he took my hand. He didn't say anything, just squeezed it in a reassuring way. Nothing he could have said could have meant more than that one gesture. At the very least I knew I wasn't alone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Eric and I shared a quiet ride to the hardware store then to the grocery store. Everything was still working, just as he'd said. Things were not the same, though. Most of the workers I encountered were shape shifters of some kind. The rest were human, but I suspected they had gotten a ride to work with a shifter friend. As for me, I was under the protection of a vampire. There were a few humans like me. Either way, I found myself getting physically closer to Eric whenever we passed someone at an aisle. The grocery store, in particular, was scarier because it was busier.

As I scanned a shelf for a particular brand of coffee, Eric got closer behind me and bent to whisper in my ear. "Not that I don't enjoy our proximity, but I won't let anything happen to you no matter how far you are from me."

I smiled. He'd caught me. I looked down shy. "Sorry," I said lamely and continued my purchases.

Eric and I arrived at an empty house. I was sure Pam and Amelia had some alone girl time before going clothes shopping. Pam had mentioned something about retail therapy earlier. So that left me alone with Eric while we put groceries away. Every minute that passed in silence was almost torture. We'd barely spoken the whole time when we were shopping.

"Are you hungry, Sookie? Do you need help fixing dinner?" he asked out of the blue.

I was taken aback but recovered quickly. "No, thank you. I ate a late lunch. I'll probably get hungry much later."

"Can we talk now?" he asked, putting one last can away on a high shelf. How he expected me to fetch it was beyond me.

"Um... sure," I answered, but I actually was unsure.

He offered me his hand and I took it, feeling a sort of relief when we touched again. We sat at the couch in the dimly lit den. He never let go of my hand and actually started threading and rethreading his fingers through mine. Was he nervous? There was no way of telling. He didn't blush or sweat. Meanwhile I was listening to the hard thumping of my heart inside my ears.

"No need to be scared of me, Sookie," he began.

"I'm not scared," I said quickly. And in truth, I wasn't. I was nervous, not scared.

Eric raised a disbelieving eyebrow, no doubt hearing my heart going wild. His expression settled back and he spoke again. "I wanted to ask you more about your life and maybe tell you more about mine."

And that's how we ended up talking and talking for hours. I was fascinated by his long life. He told me about his human life, what it meant to be a warrior chief, more like a soldier for hire in the service of a king. He taught me to say his name in Old Norse. I told him about my parents dying when I was seven and Jason was ten, and how my Gran had taken care of us from then on, and what a great lady she had been. I didn't even cry while I spoke of her, I just wanted to tell her story. In turn I listened to how Eric had wanted to continue on as a soldier, but that it had been almost impossible. Instead he'd chosen to save people left for dead. He'd never gone so far as to give them his blood, like he'd done with me, but sometimes, he said, there were soldiers who only needed to be brought in from the cold to heal, and he would do that. Or they would need their wounds dressed. He liked the thrill of the battle, but knew that another chief, like him, would appreciate it if a soldier made it home. In a way he was doing it more to honor the memory of his being a chief than for the soldier he saved, but it was a good deed either way.

After Pam joined him as a vampire (he didn't go into detail as to how that had happened), she helped him as well. She worked as a nurse, though she would have much preferred to have been a warrior too. Until recently, there had been no such thing as women soldiers. I listened to story after story with rapt attention, until my eyes betrayed me and started to close on their own.

"Come on, little Sookie. It is time for you to go to bed," he announced.

"No, no wait," I complained.

"Sookie, we'll talk more tomorrow night," he said putting a hand up but making sure to meet my eyes.

"Where are Pam and Amelia?" I asked. I hadn't heard them come in.

"They got here several hours ago. Amelia is sleeping, and Pam is in her room." I marveled at what he was telling me. We had spoken for so long, and I'd been so lost in our dialogue that I'd missed them coming in the house, and I hadn't even gotten hungry. The butterflies in my stomach were to blame for my lack of hunger. I felt like I'd just been out on a date, an immensely satisfying one. For once I was actually looking forward to a good night kiss.

Eric walked me to my bedroom and I could feel my heart start to pick up its rhythm again. He delivered me to my door and bent to give me my kiss on the cheek. How was I supposed to ask for what I wanted? I'd never done it before. My heart skipped a beat when I decided to touch his neck as he kissed my cheek. My whole hand fit within it. His cool soft skin felt odd, but nice in a way.

Eric looked at me then, asking me a silent question. When I nodded a tiny bit he bent to me again but didn't close the gap. I stood on tip toes to reach my lips to his. For once I was the one kissing the guy. I felt dizzy, and Eric must have known because he put a hand on my back and another on my neck, just like I'd done to him. My free hand found his shoulder, and only then could I appreciate my good night kiss. Since I was the one doing the kissing, it was soft and tentative. Eric's scent filled me, and I closed my eyes completely, enjoying his soft lips as they mirrored my own inexpert movements.

He pulled away first, but instead of leaving me he took my hand and walked me to my bed after closing the door behind us. I wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he pulled the covers and waited for me to get under them. I toed off my shoes quickly and got in bed. He tucked the covers over me and came around to the other side of the bed, toeing off his shoes too and settling himself above my covers, his body turned in my direction. I turned to him, and he took my hands in his.

"Go to sleep, dear one. I will stay here as long as I can," he murmured.

I stared at his glowing face in disbelief. How did he know that I wanted the comfort of having him nearby? "Thank you," I said, barely able to get the words out.

"You're welcome," he said and closed his eyes.

I closed my eyes too, not sure if I'd be able to sleep with Eric so close, but I did. I fell asleep after only a few minutes with Eric's hands around mine.

**TBC**

**A/N: I think I answered the question of whether or not Sookie was raped… The answer is no.**

**P.S.: Sookie was reading _Weaveworld_ by Clive Barker.**


	18. I'm Falling, Falling Faster

**A/N: **I got my AWWW's… Awww!

* * *

**I'M FALLING, FALLING FASTER**

I waited until Sookie's breathing became deep and even before opening my eyes again. I had closed them so that she would close them too, knowing only too well that if she felt like she was being watched she would feel too nervous to sleep. I stayed by her side, enjoying her scent and her warmth for as long as I could. It had been a long time since I'd allowed myself simple pleasures, such as Sookie's kiss. How I had wanted to ply her lips open and explore her whole mouth! But I reined in my desire and let her kiss me instead. Even if I hadn't known she was innocent, that kiss would have confirmed it.

I caressed her face and left her side, needing to seek the shelter of my bedroom before dawn. It would have been great to be able to let the day death claim me by her side, and I marveled at my own thought. I trusted Sookie with my existence. The only other person I trusted like that was Pam. Perhaps my blood inside Sookie made me trust her.

The next night I knew for sure that Sookie's feelings had improved. I felt happy because she was happy. I could only guess at the source of her happiness: having something to occupy her time. The night before it had been because she was out frolicking in the backyard, dancing and singing like a beautiful fairy. She almost smelled like a fairy, her increased body heat making the scent of her blood all that more delicious.

I showered quickly, dressed even quicker, and joined Sookie and Amelia. They were in Sookie's bedroom with the door ajar. Sookie was modeling a dress that Amelia had bought for her the night before. She walked on her toes, pretending to wear high heels on her bare feet. I knocked on the door and opened it. Sookie turned to me holding her arms in such a way as to show off her dress.

"Do you like it?" she asked me. It was a beautiful red dress with a flowing skirt that came down to her knees.

I smiled, barely believing my opinion mattered much. But since it seemed that it did, I answered sincerely. "You look beautiful."

Sookie smiled wider and Amelia took that as her cue to leave. "I'm gonna go check on dinner," she said and left us alone in Sookie's bedroom.

"Pam and Amelia got me all these clothes," she pointed at the mountain of fabric on her bed. "The dress isn't really my style, but it's so pretty," she said, almost apologizing.

I stepped closer, wanting to hold her, kiss her, learn how to make love to someone, just touch her all night long. It was a real pity that I had to leave her alone tonight. But before I did that I wanted to have a moment with Sookie.

She took my offered hands with a shy smile and let me bring her close. I bent to her and kissed her cheek, deciding that it would be too forward to assume she would let me kiss her on the mouth again. Her heart accelerated and her breathing became shallow at my touch. I took a step back to look at her and to examine her feelings inside me. She was feeling something very close to lust, but I couldn't name it.

"I have to go soon, and Pam will stay here," I said, needing to say goodbye and finding it incredibly difficult.

"Are you going to look for more werewolves?" she asked. There was fear mixed in her voice.

"No, I will not be looking for werewolves tonight. I have to call my Queen and see what she wants from me. If all goes well I should return soon, but I cannot make promises."

"I understand. I just want you to be safe," she said, and I couldn't help the smile that formed at her sentiment. It was my job to keep her safe, but she wanted me to be safe as well. I let go of one of her hands, but only to run a finger from her temple to her jaw, marveling at this small woman and her sincere feelings.

"I will be safe, I promise," I said. She took advantage of her free hand and put it on my cheek. I bent to her again, kissing her lips lightly. She didn't pull away and, in fact, moved her hand from my cheek to my neck, pulling on me as her fingers reached my hair. I had to put my hand on her back because she had started to sway.

Her lips became a little insistent. She caught my lower lip between hers, then my upper lip, going slow and not knowing much. I decided it was time she was schooled properly. Besides, I wanted to kiss her. _I_ wanted to kiss _her._ I pulled away only to make sure this would be okay, and from the very brief look of disappointment that I spied on her face I knew she wanted more. I took her face in my hands, caressing strands of her hair away from her cheeks. I brushed her lips with my thumb, making them part and her eyes close. I kissed her, tasting something sweet when I ran my tongue along the inside of her lip. I realized it was her saliva. Her saliva reminded me of her blood and I almost lost my restraint. Instead I pulled away from Sookie, letting go of her as if she had shocked me.

"I'm sorry," she said, confusing me instantly.

"Why? I was the one who almost lost control," I said and reached for her hands.

"I just know how difficult it is for you to be around my blood and I… I really wanted to…" she never finished her sentence.

"You wanted to kiss me?"

Sookie nodded in response looking down at our hands.

"I wanted to kiss you too. Is it alright to kiss you?"

She nodded again and that's all the permission I needed. The moment she looked up again I caught her lips and brought her close. Her feelings were thrown into chaos before settling into that feeling I had no name for, and the more I pressed her body into mine the more that feeling morphed into lust. Her small hands pressed into my chest, but not in a way to make me separate from her. I let go of her lips and put my forehead to hers.

"I would like nothing more than to kiss you all night," I said, making her sigh. Sookie felt the same way but this was new to her. She did not know how to act around me, but I only found that all the more endearing. It was new and different. It was pure.

"You have to go, I know," she said and seemed to gather her courage. "I'll wait up for you."

"Thank you, Sookie, but you don't have to. Sleep when you are tired," I ordered her.

"We'll see," she said, not really taking my order seriously. This would take some getting used to.

I gave her lips a soft peck and left, meeting Pam on my way out. She didn't say anything, only looked at me with a strange expression. It was as if she couldn't make up her mind whether to mock me or be confused by my behavior. She followed me outside so we could speak without being overheard.

"You like her a lot, don't you?" she asked and frowned.

"Yes I do," I answered.

"Will you turn her?"

"I don't think so. Why? Are you jealous?"

"No, Eric. I think it would be very dangerous for her to remain human considering what she can do. Our Queen would give anything to have her in her retinue; the humans already did the unthinkable; once the Weres find out, she's toast."

"Toast?" I asked, wondering at her choice of words.

"Never mind that, you know what I mean. Sookie is vulnerable as long as she remains human," Pam said, or repeated rather, trying to drive her point home.

"Let me ask you something, Pam. Did you resent me when I turned you?"

Pam's eyes widened briefly. She understood, but answered anyway. "At first, you know I did, but soon found that this lifestyle suits me."

"Do you think this lifestyle would suit Sookie?"

Pam looked defeated. "No, I don't. I will see you later," she said and went back inside the house.

I drove to Fangtasia, hearing a new odd sound coming from the truck. Soon it would develop into a larger problem. I really needed a new car. There were several of my people already at Fangtasia. I was sure Maxwell Lee had let them inside. I arrived at the same time as Bill Compton. He caught up to me bearing a serious expression.

"I have news about Sookie's brother. Do you have a moment?" he asked. I always knew him to be a polite gentleman, true to his roots.

"Yes, please tell me what you've found," I said and leaned against my truck.

"He is alive. He went home with Calvin Norris, packmaster of the werepanthers in Hot Shot, a small town near Bon Temps. From what I learned he has been looking for Sookie and is now with Sam the shifter. They went to Monroe first, but will probably start making their way back soon and into Shreveport. I spoke to Calvin and took the liberty of giving him your phone number. Jason does not have a phone and Calvin cannot communicate with him until he calls in. When he does Calvin will give him your phone number." Bill nodded briefly waiting for my response.

"Thank you, Bill. That is much more than I expected you to find," I said, thinking that the news would make Sookie happy.

"Calvin would not speak to me until I told him I had seen Sookie. One of the advantages of my becoming part of the community is that they believe me and know my character. He also knows that Sookie is safe and understood why I would not disclose her location."

"Again, Bill, I thank you for the information. I shall keep an eye out for Sookie's brother in case he comes to Fangtasia," I said and led the way inside. I needed to call my Queen.

"Eric! I'm so glad to hear from you. I'm back in New Orleans. Are you in Shreveport?" Sophie-Anne asked me. I was surrounded by many trusted vampires, more than during our previous meeting, and they were all happy to hear that Sophie-Anne was back in our state.

"Yes I am your majesty."

"Perfect! Okay, so this is what's going to happen: We're going to proceed with our original plans to divide the states into fiefdoms, and I want you to remain there as Sheriff of Area 5. The regents will all choose one vampire to become the new president of the United States, because obviously the old human president failed to see the problems of his country. That part hasn't been announced yet, but it will soon. When that happens we'll have a lot of unrest amongst the humans, which is to be expected. They don't know any better. There is still some insurgency under the guise of the Fellowship of the Sun. Whoever dispatched that Newlin man deserves an award.

"With the new vampire supremacy we will need more humans on our side. We have to show them that vampires are the good guys. So, first things first: anyone caught purchasing humans for food are to be staked on the spot. We need to get rid of that black market tout de suite. If you can you may go after the sellers. Many Weres are getting a bad rap because of the few who are fueling this stupidity. Have you had any in your area?" Sophie-Anne asked.

"Yes, ma'am. I did not expect it in the city, but we did find one cell. We dismantled it and freed the humans," I answered.

"Very good. I knew I could count on you. Little by little we'll whip the country back into shape. Things happened so fast that we didn't see them coming until it was too late. One of the suggestions we have received is to move to a nearby military base. I believe there is one around your area, hopefully the one with the most weapons. Make that your headquarters. Please call me as often as you need to and give me some updates. I hated not being able to communicate with my people. Do you have use of your old phone?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Coordinate efforts, call me with updates, and let me know if you need help. I found a whole lot of new vampires running around New Orleans that I now have to take care of. Once everyone is settled I may have to send some your way. Good luck, Eric," Sophie-Anne said, and hung up.

Taking over a base was easy enough. We could take over Barksdale Air Force Base, and I knew vampires already had. It was just a matter of having the vampires in residence there hand over the base. I only hoped it wouldn't turn into a power struggle. I doubted it, though, not after the Queen had named me Sheriff.

All the vampires in attendance at my office plead their loyalty to me and then we figured a plan to make sure the vampires currently in charge of Barksdale would hand it over without fuss. It took several hours to hammer out the details but we had a plan in place by the end of our meeting that night. Barksdale would be ours the next night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I found Pam watching TV quietly in the den. The house was quiet and dark except for the TV and the faint whine of the electricity it was feeding upon. I sat next to her and told her about taking over Barksdale.

"You will need me there tomorrow," she said. It wasn't a question.

"Yes, I know, and I am concerned. I definitely need you, and I hope that Sookie and Amelia will be safe here alone," I said, chewing on my cheek, thinking.

"Sookie knows if somebody is approaching the house. Give her the code to one of our bedrooms and tell her to go inside one of them along with Amelia if they feel threatened in any way. You can change the code later if it makes you feel better," Pam suggested, and I had to admit it was a very good suggestion.

I passed by the foyer on my way upstairs, to see what Sookie had been doing the whole day. The smell of something foul and chemical permeated throughout the house, and I saw that she was preparing the walls for the paint. To cover up the dark pink walls, she needed to use a primer called Kilz, and she had already started applying it. I could still see some pink showing through the white of the primer, and I was sure she'd seen it too. Those walls would take lots of work. I smiled to myself. Who knew she would be so industrious? Her friend Amelia seemed to be the same way. I was sure they were helping each other with the project.

As I headed upstairs I explored Sookie's feelings within me. She was sleeping, which was a small comfort. However, I needed to give her the news of her brother. Or, at least, that's the excuse I gave myself for entering her bedroom and lying beside her. She was turned towards the windows in a fetal position, my bloody shirt still clutched in her hands. I took off the shirt I had on, pulled on the old one gently, and replaced it with the new one. She stirred, but very little.

"Sookie?" I called her name and caressed her hands. "Sookie, I have news about Jason." As I expected she whined her discontent and pulled my shirt closer to her. "Sookie? Wake up, dear one."

She took a deep breath, apparently deciding that maybe it would be a good idea to wake up. She opened one bleary eye and gave me a small smile. "Hi," she said, and the smell of her minty toothpaste floated over to me.

"I have news about Jason," I repeated, and her eyes opened fully then.

"Oh!" she said and looked down at the shirt in her hands. Her eyes widened, then looked at me, then she shut them tight in embarrassment. "Oh, no…" she whined and buried her face in her pillow.

"What's wrong?" I asked and reached for her hair, caressing it slowly in hopes that the action would calm her. But she only shook her head. "Are you embarrassed for wanting to be close to me?" I asked, phrasing my question just so. It's not that she wanted my shirt, I knew that. She wanted to be close to me.

Sookie looked at me then. She was quiet for a few moments, and I didn't stop my gentle touch of her hair. "I'm not embarrassed for wanting to be close to you. I'm embarrassed that you found out about the shirt I stole."

"You didn't steal my shirt. I left it here. And I gave you this new one to replace the old one. You have not stolen anything."

"I still took it," she mumbled.

"Bill found news about your brother," I said, closing the subject of the shirts. If she wanted one of my shirts, she could have it. Period.

"Is he okay?"

"He's fine. He returned to Bon Temps with Calvin Norris and now he's looking for you. The only problem is that he does not have a phone number where he can be reached, so Calvin will have to wait to tell him we found you until Jason calls in. Either way, Calvin has my phone number, and he will give it to Jason so I can tell him I have found you," I said. I could tell Sookie was feeling relieved, and perhaps overwhelmed.

"Thank you," she said, and her voice broke. When the tears spilt from her eyes I brought her close and hugged her to me. She did not sob, but I could feel each new tear as it left her and landed on my bare skin.

"Go back to sleep, Sookie. Tomorrow is another day. And, by the way, thank you for painting my foyer. I see you have a lot of work ahead of you," I said, trying to lift her spirits.

She laughed a small laugh. "Yes, but I like to work. It will look very sophisticated when it's all done." Sookie moved away from me and lay on her back. I propped myself up on my elbow so I could look at her. She had closed her eyes, but opened them to look at me. "I had to say a quick prayer," she explained.

I nodded and couldn't help the sudden desire I had to kiss her, make love to her, touch her. They were the same desires I'd had earlier. I touched her face, trying hard to be delicate with this small flower. I leaned forward and brushed her lips with mine, making her close her eyes in anticipation. When I kissed her deeply she was ready for me, opening her mouth to invite me in. I moved and she allowed me to settle atop her, straddling her legs, her warm body safe from my advances under the barrier of her covers. She caressed my arms while I ravaged her mouth, and a sudden moan from her mouth made me lose it.

I kissed her neck with abandon, and she encouraged it by running her hands over my back, pulling me into her embrace. I put my arms under her to bring her close to me too, kissing the hollow of her throat, forgetting to keep my fangs in check. Another moan and I writhed over her, my cock begging to be inside her, but that I would not allow. Sookie moved her face away from me and arched in a way as to offer me her neck.

"Eric," she said my name in a breath. She was offering herself to me, or at least that which she wasn't afraid to give. I felt almost dizzy with anticipation, licking the spot on her neck that I would claim as mine. I sank my fangs slowly into her soft flesh, enjoying the scent of her blood as it sprang to the surface. I wrapped my lips around the wounds I had made and sucked slowly, feeling like I could die my final death now. My hips began the dance of desire, as Sookie's hands caressed my back soothingly. Her touch was so hot it burned me from the inside out. As I consumed her, she consumed me. One last draw on the wounds and I felt my release stain my jeans. Sookie let out an open mouthed sigh, and I knew from the new scent that filled the room that she had also reached her climax. I would not be able to keep my hands off her for much longer.

I closed her wounds delicately, making sure to seal them first and then pricking my tongue to heal them completely with my blood. I got off her body to allow her room to breathe, but remained on my side so I could marvel at her for a little longer.

Sookie turned to me, first her face then her whole body. "That didn't hurt," she said and smiled widely. She never looked more beautiful, with her hair tousled and her lips pink and plump from my attentions. I smiled too, still savoring the moment.

"I would never hurt you, Sookie. Thank you for letting me kiss you and drink from you," I said, hoping she understood what her permission meant to me.

"I wanted you to kiss me and drink from me," she murmured in a very low voice. I realized she was falling asleep, and she did so after only a minute or so. After making sure she had my shirt tucked close to her I went to my bedroom with my old shirt in hand.

What Sookie didn't know was that after a couple of nights sleeping with my shirt, the only scent I could detect on it was hers. I took a page from Sookie's book and clutched the shirt close to me, letting death take me with my nose and body full of her.

**TBC**


	19. I Swear

**A/N: **You girls (and guys? Anyone?) have been so amazingly fabulous. There's a reason I haven't answered reviews this week. I've been trying to write as much as I can so I have a chapter or two ready to post while I'm on vacation in a couple of weeks. I apologize to all, but I figured I'd be forgiven, since the "not answering reviews" thing was for a good cause, namely y'all getting chapters while I'm otherwise unable to get to a computer.

Viking hugs and kisses: VXOVXOVXOVXOVXO

* * *

**I SWEAR**

"You need a lemon to suck on, little girl," Amelia said as we sat in the kitchen having breakfast.

I was taken aback by her sudden outburst. I hadn't been listening to her mind, my own mind occupied with more pleasant subjects. "What? Why? What did I do?"

"Maybe sucking on a lemon will wipe that goofy grin off your face. Don't tell me it's nothing. That vampire of yours is loud. Did you give him blood or nookie?"

"Amelia!"

"Sookie! Tell me. I'm dying over here, and your face says so much yet not enough, so out with it Stackhouse!"

I had to tell her, I knew I did. I'd just been… reminiscing… in peace. I guessed it was time to come clean. "Eric came to my bedroom to tell me Bill found news about Jason." I told Amelia everything that Eric had said.

"I'm so glad Jason's okay, Sookie. Hopefully he checks in with Calvin Norris soon," Amelia said and squeezed my hand with a relieved expression. Swift as a vampire her expression changed from relief to annoyance and she smacked my upper arm. "Now talk!"

"Eric and I kissed. It got pretty intense. I've never been kissed that way before, so passionate, but so caring," I got goose bumps remembering how he had hugged me to him before he kissed my neck. And then he kissed my neck and I lost all rational thought. All I'd wanted him to do was bite, to see if his bite would feel as good as I'd imagined. It was better. WAY better. It was as if the spot on my neck where he bit was connected to a much lower part of my body, and when he sucked I felt it all the way down there, so much so that I felt the warm explosions of my body's pleasure. Eric's groans and moans from his own pleasure only added to what I was feeling. I don't think he did any of that of purpose. As a matter of fact, I don't think he even noticed that he did that.

"That's it! Forget the lemon. I'm getting a frying pan to smack that smirk off your face," Amelia burst.

"What did I do now?" I asked perplexed. Had I been gone that long? I wondered what would happen if we really had sex. If Eric's kiss had stolen my ability to think about anything else, then sex with Eric would leave me catatonic for several days!

"Look. I'm happy that you and Eric seem to be getting along. It's great. I understand that you're starting to have feelings for him, and that he's earned the right for you to feel that way about him. Just remember he's a vampire, okay? Don't stop what you're doing, just be careful with your heart," Amelia said. Now I was thoroughly confused.

I mulled her statement over as we restarted our project in the foyer. I wasn't an idiot. Falling in love with a vampire was a no-no. Big DUH there. But one thing was knowing that what I was feeling would hurt me later, and quite another thing was trying to stop myself. How is one supposed to not fall in love? I'd only had a few crushes in my life, but I understood the nature of it. It wasn't a conscious decision. You don't wake up one morning and say to yourself, "I will fall in love with the next guy I meet with curly hair." And then, when you're me, you don't crush often, and you don't crush for long, because invariably you read the guy's thoughts and they turn out to be junk.

I'd never had my interest returned, as Eric so obviously did. It was always one-sided: either the guy liked me, or I liked the guy, but I'd never experienced anything mutual. I would have liked to be able to fall in love with Sam at the time I was with him. Obviously I was glad that didn't happen, because his betrayal affected me, but I couldn't even fathom what it would have done to me if I'd been in love with him.

Besides, Amelia was right. Who on Earth could I actually have a normal (or quasi-normal) relationship with, other than a vampire? A human? Icks-nay on that one. I could read all their thoughts, and touch amplified everything. Ditto for the shifters. That only left vampires from the pool of eligible bachelors. At the very least I could experience a physical relationship the normal way. I knew it would be too much to hope for reciprocity of feelings.

I sighed.

Amelia and I were sanding another spot of wall and listening to Eric's stereo. Somehow she had figured out how to turn on the satellite radio and we were listening to a mixed station. I only had trouble during the love songs. We were listening to Seal's "Kiss from a Rose," which was kind of appropriate in a very morbid way.

I shivered.

Vampires were supposed to be dead, right? Except that Eric, Pam, and Bill looked very much alive. Sometimes only their glow gave them away. They could act very human when the situation called for it. They could act very vampire too. What deranged human would have a love affair with the scent of my blood, pray tell? And Eric's cool touch was the predator's warning. But I couldn't make myself feel fear. I couldn't feel fear, and I couldn't stop myself from falling… in love. There! I'd said it to myself.

We stopped our project to eat something. It wasn't exactly lunch, but it wasn't exactly dinner. It was four in the afternoon and we were very hungry, so we fired up the grill and cooked a couple of thick steaks. I was ravenous for some beef. Maybe I was still recovering from the blood loss. How much had Eric taken? I had no way of knowing. After lunch we were sluggish with food and moved slow. Instead of resuming the project we decided to clean up and take it easy. It's not like we had a deadline.

As soon as the sun set I was on the alert. Amelia and I were watching one of the many movies in Eric's collection, but I stopped paying attention when I felt Eric's mind come to my attention. It was really odd, and impossible to describe properly. It was as if vampires didn't exist during the day, but as soon as Eric and Pam woke up for the night, I could feel their minds' vacuum. It was a void, a black hole, their thoughts getting sucked back into themselves. At the same time it was quiet, unbelievably so, a complete absence of something that ought to be there. So, even though I could detect a vampire's mind, my inability to read it was actually very soothing.

I kept track of Eric's void. The only way I knew it was him was because he woke up earlier than Pam, when the sun hadn't set entirely. Other than that, Eric's and Pam's minds were the exact same. Ten minutes after waking up, Eric came down the stairs. I turned in his direction, smiling in spite of myself.

My smile froze in place when I saw how he was dressed. Just like the night he'd gone after the werewolves, he was dressed in black from head to toe. His hair was pulled back into a braid. His shirt was made of that almost shiny material that athletes use and that fits like second skin, and he was wearing thick cargo pants and heavy boots. At any other time I would have salivated at how handsome he looked. But tonight he had a large sword strapped to his back. All I could see was the very large hilt protruding from behind his shoulder, and the case that held the blade all the way down by his knee.

I gulped my fear as he walked with sure steps to kneel beside me, rearranging his sword so it wouldn't hit the floor. He must have seen my fear because the first thing he did was shush me and put his hand on my cheek.

"This is just for show, dear one," he murmured. His gaze was clear of worry so I began calming down by degrees.

"Wh..where are you g…going?" I stammered. I never stammered. Along with my fear I'd felt a hint of panic.

"My Queen has ordered me to take over Barksdale Air Force Base. I am the sheriff of this area, therefore I need to secure the base and make it my headquarters. From there I can safeguard all who live in my area," he explained.

I blinked and decided to repeat what he'd said, just to make sure I got it. "You are sheriff of this area and you're going to make Barksdale your headquarters. Didn't vampires take over the military bases?" I asked, needing a tiny bit more information.

"That is right, but it was a motley group. Now I have to take over as sheriff. Don't worry, Sookie. They know I'm the appointed sheriff and will obey my orders. I have my own people accompanying me," he smiled wide and the smile reached his eyes, "and a very big sword."

I closed my eyes and shook my head to clear it. It didn't help. A movie of Eric fighting was running in a constant loop through my head. When I opened my eyes again Eric's smile had faded. I was sorry to see it go, but I was very much unable to smile myself. "I'm sorry, Eric. I can't help being worried," I said with finality. He'd better not tell me again not to worry, darn it!

"I understand. I'm very worried that I have to leave you alone in the house. Pam has to come with me. So this is what I want you to do: I will give you the code for my bedroom. It is reinforced so that nobody can hear or smell anything inside it. Only another vampire could break through it, but since there are no vampires after you, I am not worried about that. Now, you can do one of two things: you can either scan the house using your ability and go inside the bedroom if you detect someone; or you can go inside the bedroom as soon as we leave. I would rather you and Amelia get inside the bedroom the moment we depart." Eric handed me a small piece of paper with the code I needed and a brief instruction on how to set it.

I looked at the piece of paper, not really seeing it. Eric shifted on the floor, grabbing my legs and opening them to settle his kneeling body in between them. He took my face and brought me closer to him. I had no choice but to close my eyes, expecting a kiss. I got something different. He lovingly touched my nose with his, rubbing lightly before kissing it softly. He backed up and I opened my eyes. He was looking straight into mine, asking me a silent question.

"Just… Please come back home. Please come back… to me," I said, feeling like a sap for wanting to cry, but forbidding the tears to make an appearance. They made one anyway. I had just admitted so much by making that statement. So now I was feeling vulnerable and scared. Way to go, Sookie!

Eric regarded me for a moment, caressing my cheek with his thumb and wiping a tear away. He brought his thumb to his mouth and licked, making a faint rumbling sound deep inside his chest. He liked the taste of my tears. It didn't take me long to realize, so I leaned forward and closed my eyes. I felt his soft kisses on my cheeks and eyelids, cool and tender.

"I will come back to you, Sookie. I swear it," he said and hugged me hard. I hugged him back, feeling safe and cherished in a way. I didn't care that he didn't love me. I felt loved.

"Eric, we have to go," Pam said in a soft voice, like she hadn't wanted to interrupt but knew she had to.

Eric pulled away from our hug only to crush my lips with his in one final goodbye kiss.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Amelia and I decided that it would be easier on my brain to simply stay in Eric's room until he and Pam returned. Amelia had made herself scarce the minute Eric had come to see me, so I'd had to fill her in on Eric's plans. Afterwards we spent a long time talking about the feasibility of having a vampire government. So far during a lack of government altogether, things seemed pretty settled. Not to say things were completely safe. For sure times were dangerous. But we still had electricity and running water; the stores were still open; the TV stations were still broadcasting; the gasoline still made it to pumps; and there had been no major riots or looting, except in very concentrated parts of the nation.

For now we were living with the sheriff of the area. I didn't know how big the area was, but at least it encompassed all of Shreveport and probably Bossier. Talking to Amelia and keeping my mind running was keeping me busy and not thinking too much about Eric taking over Barksdale. After a couple of hours we ran out of topics and we both became tired. Amelia sat on Eric's chair to study a witchcraft book, and I settled on Eric's bed to read one of the books I'd found in Eric's library. His tastes were eclectic. I was now reading a book by Dan Brown. Eric had given me his phone so he could call when they got home and we would open the bedroom. There was no keypad for it outside.

Sleep claimed me after several chapters, and I woke up to the ringing cell phone. I grabbed it and answered it in a half-asleep daze, not bothering to look at the caller ID, sure that it would read Pam's number.

"Hello!" I said, less like a question and more like an expectation.

"Sookie?" the voice on the other line said. That was not Eric. But I knew the voice like I knew my own.

"Jason?" I asked, almost choking.

"Sookie! You're okay. Where are you? I'm coming to get you," he said quickly.

"I'm fine, Jason, but you can't come here," I said, lightning fast. Nobody could know the daytime resting place of a vampire. It was a true miracle that Eric and Pam trusted us. I wasn't in a position to extend their hospitality, even to my own brother.

"Why? Does a vampire have you? Is he draining you?" Jason asked desperate.

Before I could answer, Amelia took the phone from my hand. "Listen up, buster! She's with me and we are both fine. Do you want to hear how come she had to be rescued by a vampire?" Amelia paused, waiting for Jason to answer. "Alrighty then, I hope you're holding onto something: Sam took her all the way to Alabama, all the while trying to court her. When they got to Alabama, they stopped to stay the night with some friendly shifters, and Samuel decided that, since Sookie wasn't giving it up, he was gonna pick a fight with a shifter and fuck his mate. Sookie saw everything and ran away." She paused. I could sort of hear Jason yelling in the background. "That's right, he's a motherfucker! She got caught by Weres and only by the grace of God was she saved by vampire friends of mine. They were the same ones that helped y'all escape from prison."

Amelia paused longer this time, listening to the phone intently. She looked at me with a frown. "I think Jason is trying to beat somebody up on the other line. Whoops! The line went dead."

By then I was sitting on the bed hugging my knees. Listening to my tale told by someone else hadn't been a pleasant experience. And who the hell was Jason beating up? He was never one to start fights. Then it dawned on me.

"Oh, my God! He's with Sam," I said, feeling the bile rise in my throat when the memory of what Sam had done invaded my mind for a second time.

"Yep! It would make sense for your bro to beat up Sam after hearing everything," Amelia agreed and sat beside me. "Are you gonna be okay?" she asked in a worried voice.

"Maybe…" I answered with the truth. The phone rang again in Amelia's hand. It wasn't Pam's phone, so it was probably Jason again. Amelia handed it to me. "Hello?"

"Sookie." It was Jason. "At least tell me your whereabouts. Are you near home?"

"No." Should I tell him where I was? "I'm in Shreveport," I said. Shreveport's big.

"I need to see you and bring you home. Where can we meet?" he asked. The thought of going home put a little pin in my heart. I wanted to stay in Eric's house.

I stalled. "It's better if I ask first and tell you later. Can you call tomorrow evening? Or is there a number where I can call you?"

"I'm going back to my house now that I know you're safe," he said. He was relying on Amelia's words. If Amelia said I was safe, then I was safe, and Jason knew that. "Call me there."

We said our goodbyes. He was not one to express emotion, but I could tell he was relieved to know I was okay. I was relieved too, but now my worry was different. Jason wanted me to go home. Would Eric let me go? I didn't want to go, but I didn't see how I could stay with my brother able to protect me, even if it was only with a gun. I sank back in bed and Amelia left me to my own devices. I could hear that she wanted to soothe me in some way, but she knew I needed my space. I closed my eyes but horrible images from the time I spent in prison revisited me. I grabbed the book and started reading again, trying to fill my mind with imagined things instead.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Dear one?"

I woke up to the sound of Eric's voice, and this time I did not hesitate to wake up. I don't know how long I'd been asleep because I couldn't remember closing my eyes, but as soon as I heard Eric's term of endearment for me my eyes flew open.

"Eric!" I yelled and threw myself at him. He'd been on his elbow looking at me sleeping on his bed, and I ended up sprawled on top of him, hugging his neck. He hugged me back and a warm feeling crept through my body. I quickly tried to pull away, chagrined at how bold I'd become to just throw him on the bed. Eric didn't let me go, just hugged me tighter, and I stopped my struggle. From my vantage point I couldn't see that there was anything wrong with him, but I needed to make sure. "Please tell me you're okay," I mumbled against his chest.

"I'm perfect now," I heard his voice rumble inside his chest, and I felt the warmth spread further through my extremities.

"Can you tell me how it went?" I asked.

"Not right now, dawn is approaching and there are more important things I need to attend to."

At his statement I tried to pull away again, not wanting to keep him from whatever important things he needed to do before dawn. He let me sit up but took my hand before I could get off the bed. He sat up too in the middle of the bed, legs crossed Indian style. He wasn't wearing shoes or socks anymore, only his pants and long sleeve shirt. His hair was coming off the braid, and I really wanted to pull it completely out of it.

"Come here," he murmured to me, leaning over and picking me up as if I weighed nothing. I put my arms around his neck as he settled me to sit on his crossed legs. "Amelia told me your brother called," he said, trying to decipher my expression.

I tried to keep my face as neutral as possible, not wanting to give away just how much I wished I could stay with Eric. "Yes, Jason called. He says he wants to meet so he can take me home. I told him I'd call him back with a place where we can meet."

"I can protect you better than your brother. The city is much safer than Bon Temps," Eric said, giving me exactly what I wanted. How could I take it? "But I can't keep you against your will. I would never hurt you, Sookie. Do you want to go home?"

I shook my head immediately, not being able to speak. And then, I didn't need to because Eric brought me closer and kissed me over and over. My heart soared with the knowledge that he wanted to keep me in his house as much as I wanted to stay. For the first time in a long time I was really, truly happy. I kissed Eric back with everything I had, and for once I didn't care if I was doing it wrong or right.

Eric's fingers found a bare spot at my waist under my shirt, and began a soft grabbing motion. My own fingers became undoing the braid, so I could caress his hair and get tangled in it. His tongue was exploring my mouth, dancing with my tongue. I caught it and sucked, making him groan in appreciation. I didn't even know what I was doing! All I knew was that Eric's cool fingers had made a path farther up inside my shirt to my ribs, caressing my skin in a circular motion. Before I knew what had happened, my shirt was off. Immediately I pulled away.

To my astonishment, Eric took off his shirt too. I watched as his muscles danced under his light skin, his pink nipples standing at attention begging to be touched. "This is all I want," he said, hugging me slowly to him, until we were sitting skin to skin. He caressed my hair after I put my head on his shoulder, my mouth only inches from his neck. "I swore I'd come back to you, Sookie. I couldn't leave without making that promise, and I made sure I kept it, for you. I don't know what you've done to me. I hate to see you scared or sad. I like it when I see you happy. I'm happy when you're happy, and I haven't felt this type of contentment in so long that I barely recognized it."

I smiled and allowed myself to caress his shoulder. Amelia's words flitted by, but I swatted at them like bad flies. Eric was different. He wasn't just another vampire. He wanted me like I wanted him.

Eric moved and I saw my shirt in his hand. He pushed me back a little so he could clothe me again. As soon as I was dressed, he made sure to capture my gaze with his. "I want nothing more than to make love to you and make you mine, Sookie."

My breath caught in my throat. That had been unexpected, to say the least. I'd never met anybody that direct and honest, not with the words they spoke anyway, except Amelia. "So why don't you?" I found myself asking, because usually males just took what they wanted, or tried to take it, in the hopes that the females would simply give it. Eric was doing no such thing.

"Because our first time together will be special," he said and kissed me.

**TBC**

**A/N: I feel like saying, "On the next episode of 'Ghost Hunters'…" Gosh! I love that show! I'm such a geek. Anyhoo… on the next chapter we'll find out what happened at Barksdale, K?**


	20. Thrall

**A/N: **As promised, we're going back in time a few hours to see what happened in Barksdale. It gets gory, even if I'm trying to tame it a bit. There is a lot of death, and a lot of Eric's true nature.

* * *

**THRALL**

_I saw pale kings and princes too,  
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;  
They cried – 'La Belle Dame sans Merci  
Thee hath in thrall!'  
_"La Belle Dame sans Merci (Merciless Beautiful Lady): A Ballad" by John Keats

Sookie's last words to return home rang inside my head as Pam and I drove to Barksdale. All the vampires who had sworn loyalty to me were to meet me at a prearranged location, and we would storm the base from several areas in order to corner whatever vampires had current hold of it. They were counting on me to lead a successful takeover, and all I could think of was the young woman in my house that smelled like a fairy. Her scent wasn't the only thing that held me in its thrall: her smile, her hair, how she cared about me, the way she listened intently to my stories. I found it flattering. Her figure was immensely appealing, and the person housed within was an amazing creature. Sookie was smart but shy. Shy but brave. Brave but pure. She reminded me of the many stories of maiden warriors. I happened to know how all those stories ended, and I could not bear to think of a similar end for Sookie. _Pam was right: I might have to turn her._

"You're thinking mighty hard," Pam interrupted. She'd been spending too much time with Amelia, in my opinion. My child had a tendency to be obstreperous as a rule; she hadn't needed the extra incentive of having a like-minded individual living with us. At least she was happy. All these women would one day drive me to lunacy. Sookie in particular.

"It is what I do before battle. You know that," I said to my child, trying to hide my thoughts from her. It was impossible. Our bond was very strong and she was feeling exactly what I was feeling for Sookie.

"I heard what you promised. I believe you should keep it in mind through this night and keep your word," Pam said. Sometimes she still amazed me.

"Thank you," I said, because I couldn't have stood a scathing remark at this time about my thoughts being on Sookie rather than on the matter at hand. I was well aware of the mistake I was about to make if I did not clear my head soon.

We met with all my supporters about a mile away from Barksdale and scattered in twos: one strong vampire with a weaker one. Maxwell Lee was with me. Thalia and Pam made a team. Godric and Bill. And so on. With my sword strapped to my back we ran and approached the main gate. That was my duty as sheriff: to take the offense while my supporters snuck and struck as needed and by surprise.

There were two Weres at the main gate who raised their large rifles and trained them on us. I wasn't expecting Weres, but smiled anyway.

"Good evening," I said with my most beatific smile.

"We're not accepting any more vamps, so you can turn back the way you came," said one Were, a tall thin one.

"I will not turn back. I am the sheriff of this area as appointed by the Queen of Louisiana. I am here to ascertain the safety of the vampires living in this base," I said, wishing I'd thought of bulletproof vests. I could take the bullets, but the pain was crippling. I'd made the mistake of not scouting the base before taking over. I had assumed… shit happens when one _assumes_ things.

"They're all fine. They have their blood bags and they pay well. 'S all good," said the other Were, not as tall as the first, but just as thin.

Maxwell made a face at hearing the humans referred to as "blood bags." We did not speak that way in polite company. Humans were donors. And even if we had used that derisive term, it was not for the Weres to use. They were as full of life-giving blood as humans.

Something made me lose my temper. The second Were was intoxicated, and I had a sudden flashback to the night I found Sookie at the hands of Weres. I unsheathed my sword before either of them saw it and trained it under the chin of the intoxicated one. I spared a thought to wonder if it was a Were trait to drink enough alcohol to reach inebriation.

"Put your guns down and let us pass, or say goodbye to your heads," I said between gritted teeth. I was steady as a snake about to strike, but inside I wanted revenge for Sookie's suffering at the hands of Weres. The image of her body lying on the forest floor, her blood seeping out of her, had me seeing red in no time.

The Weres did not lower their weapons fast enough for my tastes, and I quickly lost my patience. Without a word or sound I swung my sword wide, catching one head then the other. They slumped on the ground, their heads still attached but only by a string of flesh. Maxwell bent over the bodies getting sprayed with blood.

"Oh, fuck! I hate Were blood!" he said and kicked one of them.

"Let's go," I ordered and we ran to building after building, checking barracks, houses, and mess halls, not finding anybody until we came upon a hangar.

I already knew that all the military personnel had been ousted from the bases, but the smell of humans was strong in the hangar. Worse than strong. It reminded me of scents I hadn't come across in several hundred years, maybe as many as seven hundred. I motioned to Maxwell to remain at the door while I flew up to the large window at the top of the structure. A look inside confirmed my worst suspicions: hundreds of humans in captivity, and several captors, all Weres. One of them saw me and started making his way out the door. Maxwell was waiting for him and landed a blow to the man's spine to incapacitate but not kill.

"Why are you holding these people?" Maxwell asked.

The man was so surprised by what had happened that he could barely form thoughts, let alone words. He didn't even scream in pain. Maxwell was good at what he did. After a couple of seconds the Were recovered. "I can't feel my legs," he said feebly, like it was a revelation.

"Soon you will die unless you tell me why these humans are here," I said training my bloody blade on his neck. He wasn't sure who the most threatening vampire was, so he closed his eyes as he answered.

"They're just food for y'all, that's it."

"Were they soldiers at the base?"

"Yes, most of them were."

"How many are there?"

"It was a hundred thirty yesterday. Today we lost a couple."

I found the Were's words intolerable for some reason. Rather than deal with them any further I simply finished what Maxwell had begun. The scent of Were blood was not the best, but it would bring more of them outside. The Were's skin gave and split under my blade until most of his insides were outside. There is nothing appetizing about flesh, but Weres seem to love it. Maxwell and I removed ourselves from the lifeless body of the Were at our feet and hid nearby to wait for the rest of them.

Instead of Were, I smelled vampire. Somebody had been drawn to our area, and it wasn't one of my allies. I had to assume it was an enemy until I knew better.

I crouched and turned. My blade stopped just short of a neck, cutting the flesh and drawing a speck of blood. "Who are you?" I asked.

"Felicia," the vampire woman answered quickly, not daring to move. The fear was evident.

"I am your new sheriff, Felicia. You owe me loyalty and fealty. Are you willing to give it or do I have to deliver you?" I asked. I was hoping she would pledge her loyalty.

Felicia backed up a step and knelt, lowering her head. "I give you my loyalty but I have nothing to offer as fealty," she answered.

"Very well. Answer: how many vampires are here and why are they keeping soldiers hostage?" I asked, knowing full well that Felicia was not the one in charge. I kept my sword drawn but lowered it.

"There are ten total, all very old and very mean. They just wanted to have a large pool of food," she answered, unwilling to look up. Felicia obviously knew her place. She'd make a fine addition to my team.

"How old?" I asked.

"They're from a nest that was turned during the War of Independence."

"How old are you?"

"I was turned ten years ago and they offered me shelter in exchange for help with the humans," she answered. She was still mostly human herself. She turned her large brown eyes up to me. They were rimmed with red. "Please don't kill me."

"I will not as long as you follow my orders. Go start digging a large pit to put all the dead Weres and then return to my side," I said giving her a taste of my magnanimity. I was willing to be fair with those who didn't cross me.

"Yes, Sheriff," she said, stood up, and moved to an empty spot of land near the hangar, tearing at the earth with her bare hands.

Maxwell was standing nearby and frowning with his arms folded in annoyance. "They're not coming out. We'll have to go in after them."

I nodded curtly and sheathed my sword. I'd have to worry about the blood on it afterwards and clean the sheath. In the meantime I told Maxwell to keep an eye on Felicia while I gathered Weres. I flew inside fast and was able to bring two outside, breaking their necks as soon as we landed.

"There's one more Were inside," I said to Maxwell. I had assessed the situation quickly in order to know the threat. There wasn't much threat, but there was a lot of sickness and filth within the human population. That's what I had smelled earlier. I had finally been able to ascertain it with my eyes. "The humans will need a lot of care. Perhaps we should call the nearest hospital and see if they can spare some help, or if they know where the medical staff is that belonged to this base." Maxwell took out his phone without question, dialing numbers immediately.

I went back inside to look for the fourth Were. I'd seen her, a woman, and a smart one at that. She had hidden among the humans. There was only one problem: the Weres' lack of care for the humans meant that the woman Were smelled of soap and cleanliness. I tracked her easily, and did not allow her the opportunity to aim her weapon at me. I had to dispose of her immediately lest she started firing the automatic rifle inside a hangar full of innocents. I dragged her body outside, her head lolling unpleasantly, and added her to the growing pile.

"The VA hospital is sending several units immediately and mobilizing the rest of their staff," Maxwell informed me.

I called to Felicia to make sure she disposed of the Weres by the front gate as well and then Maxwell and I made our way to the flight control tower and the adjacent building. The closer we got to it the more I could tell there were several vampires inside it, both friends and foes. Unsheathing my sword once more we entered the building through the main door, hearing the sounds of fighting from a nearby room. We stormed the room and my eyes focused on Pam who was engaging a vampire about twice her height.

"I have the leader!" she shouted with effort and that was all it took for the _leader_ to lose his head. It rolled away from his body as soon as my sword cut cleanly through the man's neck. Pam was still holding on to the body by the shoulders, keeping the decapitated vampire from slumping against her. With a quick shove the body sagged to the floor.

The fighting stopped abruptly. Without a leader the rest of the vampires did not know what to do. There were six in this room, three of them already dead and the other three trying to engage Thalia. Or had been. She had been keeping them well away from her. She took advantage of the sudden stop, grabbed a stake that had already been used on someone, and staked one of the vampires that had engaged her in battle saying, "I don't like you," matter-of-factly. She had moved so fast she'd become a blur even to my eyes.

The other two vampires didn't seem like they would offer me loyalty, so I disposed of them quickly so we could go find the rest of my team. In all we killed the whole Independence Day nest, and by the time we had finished and joined Felicia and the humans, the medical staff had arrived and was helping.

I only allowed the very oldest vampires to remain near the humans to help if they desired to do so. The rest I sent away. I didn't trust them to control their instincts to attack the most vulnerable and feeble of the humans. Pam had worked as a nurse before, and was amazingly helpful and fast. Godric and Thalia had seen it all in their long lifetimes and knew how to help. I allowed Bill to remain because he had felt the need to help the soldiers like him. He had been a soldier during the Civil War, he said.

As I helped with cleaning and dressing wounds I could only think of Sookie and how much seeing something like this would affect her. By the same token, she would be glad I was able to deliver these humans from captivity and into the hands of saviors. The LSU Medical Center also sent their own people, and were able to medivac the humans who were faring the worst.

By four in the morning I ordered my people to go home. I left the chief of the VA hospital in charge of the humans, which of course he was going to do regardless. He in turn told me that most of the humans would be transported to several area hospitals for the rest of their care, as most seemed dehydrated and in shock. By the following night the base would be empty and I would begin the supervision of my fiefdom from it rather than my bar as was the original plan.

Pam was subdued on our way home. She had retained some of her humanity by simply being my child, since I had a penchant for saving warriors. My own maker would have laughed at me had he known of my pastime, but my own maker was long dead at the hand of one of his own children. It taught him a lesson not to turn humans who already had mental diseases. Maybe during his next lifetime he would put the knowledge to good use.

I called my cell phone, expecting Sookie to answer and feeling a small thrill at the thought of hearing her voice. Amelia answered instead, her voice apologetic. "Sookie fell asleep on your bed and started having nightmares. Her brother called and I don't think the whole thing sat well with her," she said. "She's been quiet for about an hour now and I didn't want to wake her just yet."

"Thank you, Amelia. We will arrive in a few minutes and then you can rest," I said, worried for Sookie. As far as I knew this was the first time she'd had nightmares.

I left my sword, boots and socks in the garage. They were soaked with Were blood and I didn't want to bring any of it into the house. It was bad enough that it had remained in the truck. Amelia was coming out of my bedroom as we reached the landing, and was quickly swept into Pam's embrace. They disappeared to Amelia's room and I let my awareness and my nose take me to Sookie sleeping on my bed.

She was sleeping in her usual fetal position, her face revealing the fact that her dreams had not been altogether pleasant. Otherwise she was breathing deeply and evenly. I hated to wake her, but if I didn't the automatic locks would trap her inside my room all day.

"Dear one?" I said and watched as her eyes opened quickly upon hearing my voice.

"Eric!" she said. Immediately I felt her relief and happiness at seeing me. She caught me in a hug, pushing me back into the bed. I hugged her warm body to me, feeling that all would be right with the world if people could be like Sookie. She saw past what I was, accepted it perhaps, and maybe even liked me for me.

She must have felt embarrassed by her outburst and tried to extricate herself from my arms, but I could not allow that. After everything that I'd done and witnessed that night, I needed a bit of redemption. Sookie was it. I could never tell her what I'd done. I knew she would never understand.

Later, as Sookie confessed that she wanted to remain by my side, I was filled with such joy that all I could think about was making love to her, starting with her mouth. She returned my kisses with abandon, and I kicked myself for the time of night. Already I was beginning to feel tired. In a few minutes I would fall asleep and the locks would set as the sun rose.

But before any of that happened, I needed to feel Sookie. I needed to feel her warmth. I needed her to soothe my aching want. I pulled off her shirt, revealing her beautiful tanned skin and her sumptuous breasts encased in white. No matter. I would see them another time, and make love to them too. For now I only took off my shirt and hugged her body to mine. She hugged me back, letting that unnamed feeling I felt inside her wash over me like solace. I needed Sookie in so many ways. She _would_ be mine. Of that I had no doubt.

When I confessed my wish she asked me why didn't I just take her. I told her our first time would be special. It had to be. I wanted to learn to make love, not just have sex. Sookie would be the one to teach me. She was the one I wanted. She was the one who could make the monsters go away.

**TBC**


	21. Mine

**A/N: **So… Here's a little bit more AWWW before we get back down to very serious business.

* * *

**MINE**

I woke up with the sun streaming through the large window in my bedroom and a huge smile on my face. How could I not smile? Eric had given me exactly what I wanted. I hadn't needed to ask for it. Just like everything else he'd given me before, from saving my life, to the soft kisses, to his shirt and even the dances, every single thing had been exactly what I wanted, or needed. I had wanted to stay with him, and he wanted me to stay with him. We kissed, and kissed, and hugged. When we sat skin to skin it had felt intimate, private. It felt good on so many levels, physically and emotionally. It had helped me make my mind up about Eric. He would be my first. He wanted me, I wanted him, and I was tired of holding onto my virginity when I had so obviously found someone who cared about me.

Eric's shirt was under my pillow, so I pulled it out and buried my nose in it. His scent was delectable, and I knew it was his own unique scent because his saliva tasted similar. I got goose bumps remembering our kiss, remembering the way he had looked at me when he took off my shirt, that half-lidded stare that told me he liked what he saw and had made my insides turn mushy in a very good way.

I tried to imagine what it would be like to make love to him, to let him see me completely naked and to see him naked in turn, but I couldn't conjure up the image. All I knew was that now that my decision was made, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. The amount of relief was overwhelming. It was silly, really. I knew exactly how easily some women (girls, actually) gave away their virginity. They didn't see it as a gift, but as a burden. I could relate. But I couldn't part with mine. I wanted to "gift" it, as much as I abhorred the term. I wanted to give it to someone who deserved it. My savior and benefactor deserved it, and I felt entitled to take something from him too. I would take his body. He said he wanted to make me his, and I wanted to make him mine. I'd never felt more like a woman until I admitted this desire I had to possess Eric.

I sighed at the same time that I smelled Eric's shirt. I made an effort to get up and join the day. Amelia was already up and was making pancakes, humming something under her breath. I quickly shored my shields, not wanting to know what on God's green earth was making her so chipper.

"Good morning!" I called out grabbing a cup of coffee.

"Very good," she answered. Oh, Lord! "Pam and I are going out tonight, so you'll have the house to yourself with Eric."

Oh, wow! So soon? But I had to remind myself that I had made up my mind. If something happened tonight then it would be because I wanted it to happen. I took a deep breath and steadied my nerves and stopped the butterflies in my stomach from wrecking my breakfast. "I guess we have a few hours to work on the walls, then?"

"Absolutely," she said with all sincerity and handed me a stack of pancakes. I buttered them, poured tons of syrup on them, and ate them with relish before another attack of the butterflies had a chance to extinguish my appetite.

"So… Where are you girls going tonight?" I asked as nonchalantly as I could. Amelia saw right through me but answered anyway.

"We have to go to the base. I have to do a protection spell of the area, but first I have to scout it to see how large it is, what I'm gonna need, how many people it'll take, that sort of thing. Then we're going out to dinner, and then we're spending the night at her house. We kinda have to be quiet with you two here, so we wanted a little bit of space, plus it'll give you guys some space too," she winked.

"Amelia, you're…" I stopped short. "That's not a bad idea," I said. It would definitely take the edge off my nerves if nobody else was in the house. Then I would have only one thing to worry about… the biggest thing. My heart leapt inside my chest and I had to close my eyes. I remembered that Eric was sweet and gentle, so it would stand to reason that making love (his term) would be sweet and gentle too. I took a deep breath and began calming down slowly, enough to be able to finish all of my breakfast and redirect my thoughts to the work at hand.

I worked like a maniac, putting a bit more elbow grease into everything I did. I was glad that the radio was on, though some of the songs had a tendency to make me remember the night before or imagine what could happen tonight.

We stopped working about an hour before sunset, and I disappeared to my room to get ready for a date, even though I wasn't sure what Eric and I would be doing. I wanted to be prepared for anything. I washed my hair, scrubbed my skin completely, leaving absolutely no dead skin (barely any skin at all), shaved my legs and underarms very carefully, and when I was done I dried my hair completely straight. I pulled half of it up and added some curls with Amelia's curling iron. She had come in after I was done in the shower and helped me pick out an outfit. The only nice thing I owned anymore was the brand new red dress that Eric had already seen, but I decided to wear it anyway, adding a bit of lip gloss, doing my eyes, and wearing a pair of heels to go with it. Amelia lent me a pair of small gold hoop earrings and I left my neck bare, even though she offered me a necklace. I was hoping at the very least for some kisses on my neck.

I lowered my shields when I thought it was dark enough outside, and of course I found a void inside the room directly across from mine. The butterflies made a brand new appearance inside my stomach, and my heart picked up the pace. Amelia must have read my expression because she rubbed my arm in a comforting way. I – again – reminded myself that nobody was forcing me, this was my decision, and if Eric wanted us to make tonight our first night, then I wanted it also and there was nothing to stop us from finally enjoying each other on every level.

"I'm going to get ready really quick. Do you need more company or are you going to be okay?" Amelia asked.

"I'll be okay. I'll wait until Eric is downstairs and then join him. Are you girls leaving right away?"

"I think that's the plan," she answered, smirked wiggling her eyebrows, and left. She closed the door to my bedroom and I set back to the task of following Eric's void.

Pacing my bedroom was not keeping my nerves in check, so I sat down on my settee. I put my hands on my knees and took deep breaths. I don't know why I was so nervous. Eric liked me, right? I wasn't putting myself out there just to be rejected. That should have been the only thing to be scared of. Everything else was a good thing. I sat up straight, closed my eyes, and attempted to relax as I followed minds around the house. When I was sure that Amelia's was no longer inside it (and therefore Pam wouldn't be in the house either), I gathered my courage and stepped outside my bedroom.

I knew Eric was in the kitchen, probably drinking a True Blood. When I reached the kitchen, Eric was standing with his back to me. He was wearing a long sleeve dress shirt and khaki slacks. Either he'd read my mind, or we were simply of like minds. I smiled, feeling some of the tension leave me as I thought of something witty to say.

"Great minds think alike," I said and watched as he turned. He was smiling, and his eyes lit up as soon as he saw me. He looked at me from head to toe, and I felt my skin flush in response. I smiled too and couldn't take my eyes off him. He looked so handsome, and the royal blue color of the shirt made his blue eyes stand out all the more.

"Indeed they do," he said and sauntered to me in a very seductive way. I hadn't been prepared for that and immediately had a hard time catching my breath. My smile wavered and I found myself looking down at my feet. When Eric's feet came into view my breath caught. He was very close. He took my chin between his fingers, tilting my head up slowly. When my face was where he wanted it, he let go of my chin to run his fingers over my jaw and down to my neck. His touch was so soft that his fingers felt like feathers. "You look beautiful, Sookie. Did you dress up for me?" he asked with a small smile, one that showed his appreciation.

"Yes," I answered, or mumbled rather.

"I dressed up for you. Do you like it?" he asked and moved back a couple of steps, turned around, and finished with a flourish. I had no choice but to laugh. He laughed with me and most of the tension finally left me.

"Yes I do. You look very handsome," I said, still giggling.

"Good. I would have been very disappointed to see you dressed like that if I had been in jeans and a T-shirt," he said, and pulled out his cell phone. "Here, dear one. Please call your brother and tell him you can meet him tonight at Barksdale…"

"Tonight?" I interrupted. Did it have to be tonight? Eric seemed to read my mind or my disappointed expression.

"Is tomorrow night better?"

"I want to give him another night to cool down," I said. It was sort of true. "He wasn't very happy with the fact that you saved me."

"You mean he wasn't very happy that a vampire saved you," Eric said and frowned in a worried way.

"Jason was scared for me. He doesn't know you. It doesn't matter if you had been vampire or human, the fact that I am with someone he doesn't know has him worried. But he knows I'm with Amelia, so now he just needs to calm down," I said and called Jason. I told him to meet us the next night at Barksdale.

"Sookie, are you really okay?" Jason asked over the phone.

"Jason I am perfect, better than I would have been with Sam. Eric and Pam have been very generous and kept me safe. So tomorrow, please, I ask you to be polite when you meet them. They've been nothing but kind," I said, and didn't mind one bit for Eric to listen in. If he didn't know how I felt about him and Pam, he knew now. I looked up and smiled, and my smile became contagious and passed to him. Jason and I hung up after setting the time for our meeting.

I held out Eric's phone and he got close again, taking it from my hand. This time I was prepared for the closeness and watched as his smile was replaced with that hungry look I was beginning to recognize. His pupils dilated a bit and his fangs began making an appearance. I so wanted to touch them…

Before I could think any more about Eric's fangs, he bent to me to brush my lips with his. It was the only part of our bodies that was touching. I needed more. I reached up to put my hands on his shoulders, and he followed my lead by putting his hands on my waist. They were so large that they almost encircled my whole middle. He brought me close at the same time that he ran his tongue over my lips. In a quick move I caught his tongue with my teeth, bringing it inside my mouth by wrapping my lips around it and sucking. He'd taught me to do that the night before. He moaned into my mouth and I started feeling dizzy and lightheaded. This was so good. This was so very, very good.

He pulled away too quickly and a deep growl escaped from his chest. It certainly didn't sound human, but I had never heard anything so sexy in my life. My insides started turning mushy and a slow ache began making its way south between my legs. I had to clench my muscles to make it stop. Eric just kept looking at me, studying me or something, his growls quieting the longer we stood there. I was almost disappointed to hear them go. I think I must have pouted, though very briefly.

"I do not scare you," he said, still studying me.

I frowned confused. "Why would you scare me?"

He raised an eyebrow, like I'd missed something very important and very obvious. "I growled at you, Sookie." He waited for me to say something. I felt like laughing, but didn't.

"Oh, that. Um… I liked it?" I said, not knowing what else to say. Then I decided to tell him the whole truth because he was looking at me incredulous. "I found it sexy," I said, unable to make my voice come out in a higher volume than a whisper.

"Sexy?" he asked, a smile starting to grace his lips, but his one eyebrow stayed in that incredulous position. I nodded shyly. His fangs were still out, and when he finally smiled completely I could appreciate them properly. They were in the same spot as his canines, so obviously his canines lengthened and retracted as needed.

I moved one of my hands from his shoulder to run my index finger delicately over his fang. I became instantly fascinated. These were the same fangs that had pierced my skin the other night, and _it didn't hurt_. How had he done that? They were BIG. His tongue darted out to lick my finger, bringing me out of my enthrallment with his teeth. I moved my eyes from his fangs to his eyes and watched his amused expression.

"I've wanted to touch them for a while now," I confessed.

"Have you?" he asked and drew me close. From my new vantage point I could see his fangs lengthen even more until they were well past his bottom lip. I bit my own bottom lip, trying to keep myself from… wait. Why was I holding back?

"I have," I said, feeling suddenly bold. I pulled down on his shoulders, threading my arms behind his neck and bringing him down to me. I kissed one fang, then the other, then kissed him squarely on the mouth. With a quieter growl than before he picked me up and moved us so fast out of the kitchen that I wasn't sure what had happened and needed a few moments to get back my bearings.

Eric had laid me on the couch in the den, one of his legs between mine, both his arms holding me tight against him. He was nuzzling my neck, kissing and nipping at it gently with his teeth. When I realized where we were and what we were doing all I could do was sigh and give him more access. His growl was constant now, almost like the purring of a cat. Of a really large cat.

He brought his lips up to my jaw, kissing his way to my chin. I moved my face so he would kiss my mouth, and he did. The soft kisses became more demanding, and I opened my mouth so he could taste me and I could taste him. This time he captured my tongue, and in my frenzy I grazed it against a fang, breaking the skin. It hurt this time, but all thoughts of crying out in pain were extinguished when I heard Eric moan inside his growl, sucking on my tongue greedily. As he moved his pelvis I realized that he was very much aroused, his hardness pressing and releasing against my upper thigh. When he moved his one leg, his thigh rubbed right into my center, and I moaned too from the pleasure of it all.

Eric stopped sucking on my tongue and pulled away to look at me. I couldn't taste blood on my tongue, and nothing hurt anymore. In the dim light that poured into the den from the kitchen I could barely make out Eric's expression.

"I want to make love, Sookie," he said. His voice had turned sultry and I thought I might faint. How do you answer something like that? I wasn't sure. "Will you be mine, Sookie? Will you be my lover?"

My heart doubled its pace. I could give him what he wanted, but I wanted something too. I had to put on my big girl britches because I'd never asked for this before, but it was important. "I will be yours if you will be mine, Eric," I said and swallowed, wondering how my statement would be received.

He didn't miss a beat. "I am yours, Sookie, to do what you will." Oh, my God in Heaven! He'd said it. He'd said it without looking away and with conviction in his voice.

"Then I am yours," I answered, and stuck a little caveat, "but please be gentle."

"Yes, my lover," he purred and buried his face against my neck again. Now that we had pledged our bodies to each other, I relaxed considerably. He would be gentle, I was sure of it even before I asked for it. I had to be gentle too. I wondered, in his long lifetime, how many lovers had been tender with him and truly made love to him? I didn't want to ask, fearing the number of total lovers would be too high for me to handle, but something told me that they, like him, took what they wanted and didn't give much back. I wasn't an expert, to be sure. I hadn't even dabbled. But I knew that I craved his tender touch, so why wouldn't he crave mine?

My arms had been locked around his neck that whole time. I moved them to caress his face and smooth his hair back. He'd worn it loose and I ran my fingers through it, pulling it to rest on one side of his neck. I caressed the spot on his neck that I claimed with a kiss. I couldn't bite him like he bit me, but I could kiss him and nuzzle him, show him just how much I had liked it when he did it to me.

"Can we go to my room?" he asked, not wanting to take anything for granted. I nodded. I was ready, even if I was still shy. Eric stood up and quickly scooped me up into his arms. He looked down at my surprised face and smiled. I smiled back and held on, staring at his face as he took me up to his room. I was looking at him from the same angle as when he had rescued me.

"You're so beautiful," I blurted out, and made sure to hug him tighter. Maybe he would understand that I meant both inside and out.

Eric stopped in the middle of the stairs and looked down at me. "Sookie you always have the ability to amaze me by the things you say. Or confuse me. Right now I am both."

I giggled. "You're beautiful; handsome in a beautiful way. I don't know how to describe you other than you're amazingly appealing to my eyes," I explained. It was easy to talk to him, and I was finding my voice again. Of course, we weren't in his room yet.

"You are amazingly appealing to my eyes too, and to all my other senses as well," he said, and continued our journey smiling, mostly to himself.

Inside his bedroom he set me down in the middle, and walked away. He had a small stereo on his nightstand, which I'd at first thought it was an alarm clock (but WHY would he need one?), but it turned out to be one of those Bose units I'd seen on TV. He turned it on and a waltz filled the room. He really liked all kinds of music, judging by his collection. The waltz was beautiful, and he soon joined me for a dance around his room. It was so big and so devoid of furniture, that we had plenty of room.

I couldn't stop staring into his eyes, but thankfully he didn't stop looking at me either, although sometimes his eyes drifted from my eyes to my lips, down further to my throat or my cleavage. I felt flattered that he considered me beautiful. I knew what other men thought of me, and my face barely ever registered with most.

Eric brought me close at the end of the song, so that instead of curtsying, we kissed. He reached for my hands and brought them up to his chest, putting them very close to the buttons of his shirt. I knew what he wanted, and with trembling fingers I started undoing the buttons, revealing more and more of his perfect chest. He helped by undoing the buttons at his sleeves and un-tucking the shirt from his pants. When I reached the last button I closed my eyes briefly, gathering my courage again. I had to keep reminding myself that Eric said he was mine. I opened my eyes and ran my hands over his skin and under his shirt, pushing the cloth from his shoulders and letting it fall on the floor.

My God, he was perfect! I'd barely had a chance to really look at him before. Even in my heels he was still a whole head taller than me, so that left me staring at the great expanse of the soft light skin on his chest, sprinkled with dark blond hair, and punctuated by those two pert pink nipples I had seen and admired the night before. They were both standing at attention, still begging for my touch. I couldn't deny them. I brought my hands to rest on his pecs, feeling each nipple nestled into the palms of my hands. I rubbed lightly, enjoying the feeling of having someone that I could touch and be close to.

Eric took my hands gingerly and moved them to the waistband of his pants. That part took a lot of effort, between my trembling hands and my foggy brain. I finally got everything and unzipped him, his pants falling to the floor easily. I tried to keep from staring, but he was clearly still aroused, or aroused again. I couldn't make myself touch him there, but I did help with the removal of his boxers.

Eric naked was a sculpture. Even his erection was beautiful… daunting, yes. I wasn't sure if I was made to accept that size. After all the penises I'd seen inside so many brains, seeing the one that belonged to my lover was… like opening a present and finding that you really love it. The best part of all was that he had made himself vulnerable before me, so now that it was my turn to undress, I didn't feel as scared.

I toed off my heels and let Eric unzip my dress. He had reached behind me, never taking his eyes off mine. Slowly he tugged the dress off my shoulders and let it pool at my waist. He ran his thumbs between the fabric and my skin, pushing the dress the rest of the way down. He took a break from undoing my bra to kiss me, probably seeing that I was getting nervous again. The kiss disarmed me and made me relax enough again. He reached behind me once more to undo the hooks of my bra, and to pull it from my arms. It wouldn't be the first time a man saw me naked, but it was the first time I had allowed it and done it with my consent.

Right away I knew that Eric liked what he saw. When he said, "I'm the luckiest man on Earth," as he stared at my breasts, I took it as a high compliment. I thought he would kiss my lips some more, but he bent all the way to plant soft kisses on my already erect nipples. I couldn't help the soft moan that escaped me at the sensation of his cool lips on my skin. At the same time that he kissed me, he ran his hands between my skin and the waistband of my panties, bending further as he pushed them down my legs. On his way back up he planted a kiss at the junction between my legs. I felt faint for a moment and held on to his back.

"Turn around, dear one," he said in a soft voice which I obeyed. He undid my hair and ran his fingers through it, smoothing it out. With nimble fingers he had it braided and wrapped around itself into a bun in no time. I turned again to watch as he put his hair up too. All thoughts of nervousness or apprehension were replaced with curiosity. He took my hand and I followed him to his bathroom. He started running a bath, which I thought would be pleasant, if unnecessary. "Humor me," he said. Again I wondered if he'd read my thoughts.

Eric stepped inside the tub and helped me in. Once he got settled I sat between his legs, using his chest as a backrest. He pulled my body as close to his as he could, and I felt his hardness against my lower back. It couldn't be helped. I was aroused too, except I had no outward way of showing it. So I relaxed against his chest, understanding completely why this bath was actually the best idea. He turned off the water and we both enjoyed the silence for a few minutes. Eric had circled my upper chest and waist with his arms, and I took the opportunity to caress them.

I felt as his nose made a path from the nape of my neck, to that sensitive spot right under my earlobe. He licked my earlobe and tugged it lightly, which actually tickled and I laughed.

"Are you ticklish there, my lover?" he asked, running his tongue over my earlobe again.

"Only when you touch it too softly," I said, and felt another tickle. "Stop it," I said, with no conviction whatsoever. He chuckled. I was sure he would get me later. _Later…_ I marveled that I was looking forward to more and we hadn't even started, not really.

"Are you ticklish here?" he asked, cupping my breasts and running his thumbs over each nipple. That sent electrical impulses further below, but no tickles.

"No," I said breathless.

"But you like it," he said, kissing my shoulder as my head rolled back against him. My body was telling him exactly how much I liked his touch.

"Yes," I answered anyway trying to catch my breath.

"Only with your consent, Sookie," Eric said, moving one of his hands down my belly and stopping short of my curls, caressing my lower abdomen slowly, waiting for my say so to touch me more intimately.

I took a deep breath. This would be the first time anybody would touch me with a lover's hand. Eric was neither a rapist nor a pervert. I nodded but stiffened. He didn't move his hand, opting instead to plant soft kisses from my shoulder to my neck. I relaxed slowly and felt how he moved his hand slowly, deliberately. I knew exactly where he was going to touch me before he did it.

Eric ran a finger at the junction between my hip and thigh, making me open my legs slightly to allow him access. He cupped my center, moving his hand slowly around and around, not quite touching my little nub of pleasure. It didn't matter. The indirect touch still felt very good, and I caught my breath as my skin erupted in goose bumps. I wanted more, but that wasn't something I was able to ask for. Instead I reached up and behind me, caressing the back of his neck. He twined the fingers of his free hand into the fingers of mine, letting me hold on as he explored me further.

When his fingers parted me and touched the little hard nub, I felt like I would melt right then and there. He rubbed around and around it, never quite touching it, and doing so very gently. I held onto his neck and his hand, needing him to keep me from floating away, needing him to center me. My breathing became fast and shallow, and all I could focus on was the feeling that was beginning to spread from my center and through my whole body. It rose from within me, something primal and new. I cried out in surprise when the new feeling burst through my body. My rational mind told me it had been an orgasm, but my body wasn't keeping up and was trembling against Eric in shock.

"Eric," I finally sighed when I could control my shaking voice.

"Sookie," he said my name, kissing all the parts of my body he could reach, starting with the arm that was still wrapped around his neck. "You were astonishingly beautiful as you climaxed," he said, kissing me some more.

I flushed at the compliment, wondering how on Earth I was supposed to return the favor. I hoped he would teach me. Without a word, Eric picked me up and rotated me inside the water, so that I was now sitting with my legs at either side of his thighs. He crossed his legs under me, which brought me up in height. One quick look between us confirmed that he was still very much in need of satisfaction.

I ran my hand from his shoulder down his chest and and abdomen, and finally touched him. I'd never touched a man before, so of course now I had a permanent flush on my skin of both embarrassment at my lack of experience, and a bit of fear not wanting to hurt him or something. As usual, Eric seemed to understand. He took my hand and guided me, showing me what he liked. I followed his direction, giving him pleasure too. He took my face in his wet hands, making me look up into his eyes as I ran my hand over his length. His breathing picked up too, and he would flash his fangs in time with my hand. When he closed his eyes and let his head fall back, he let out a growl that shook the walls, and then muttered something in a different language.

I felt powerful, fulfilled, accomplished as a lover. We hadn't had any actual sex, but we had already pleasured each other. Eric seemed so grateful for his release that he brought me close to kiss me tenderly. I melted into his embrace, enjoying every second we were together.

"Come, my darling Sookie. The water is getting lukewarm and I don't want you to get cold," Eric said, and stood up with me still wrapped around him, easily holding me against him with one arm. He set me down on the plush rug in front of the bathtub, grabbed a towel, and dried me, exploring every inch of my body. I returned the favor, watching in amazement as he became aroused once more at my touch.

He guided us to the bed, pulling down the comforter and making sure I was centered on the bed. Like the night before, he lay propped on one elbow looking down at me, but unlike the night before his free hand caressed my naked body slowly, starting with my shoulders. He trailed his fingers over my breasts, and immediately I felt my nipples strain with need. Eric bent to lick the closest breast to him, lapping at the side, suckling on my nipple hungrily. His hand was cupping my free breast, running his thumb around and around my areola. I held onto the sheets, unable to stop that sweet ache between my legs, no matter what I did.

Eric let go of my breast to bring his face up and nuzzle my neck lovingly. "I want to taste you," he said. It took me a moment to figure out what he meant, and finally got the meaning when his one hand started making its way down my belly, caressing it and waiting for my permission.

There was only one answer I could give. "I'm yours, Eric," I said, looking into his eyes. He kissed my lips tenderly, and then made a trail of kisses from my chin to my throat, kissing my breasts again, licking a different trail down to my navel and peppering my lower abdomen with kisses. He gently pushed my legs apart, moving his body to settle between them. He kissed my inner thigh, continuing the trail of kisses until he nuzzled my curls, taking a deep breath at my center and letting out a growl that shook my whole body.

My head rolled back and my eyes rolled into my head when I felt his cool tongue make a path through my core. He lapped placidly, tasting me as I moaned my own pleasure and he "mmm'd" his satisfaction.

"Look at me, Sookie. Look at me, my lover," he said with a growl in his voice. I did as he asked, instantly aching at the sight that met my eyes. He smiled, but it wasn't a seductive or mischievous smile. I'd never seen him smile like that before. "You look so beautiful, Sookie," he said and I had to smile too. "You're beautiful everywhere," he said looking down and licking me again.

I felt a small pressure at my entrance, as if he was probing me with a finger. I tensed and he stopped, just petted the entrance softly, over and over. "I won't hurt you, I won't hurt you," he whispered over and over, asking for permission. I took a few deep breaths and willed my body to relax. His finger gained entrance slowly, and he began his attentions again. The sensation was delicious. I felt a second finger join the first, and that hurt a little, but I had expected it. After a minute or so of gentle probing, I relaxed enough to enjoy what Eric was doing to me. As I did a low moan escaped my mouth. Then another. Then another. They were timed with each thrust of his fingers.

The new feeling started making an appearance, making me tremble from the inside out until I couldn't contain it and it burst out of me. I cried out with another magnificent release, hearing Eric's growl as he joined in my little celebration.

I wasn't nearly recovered when I felt Eric's cool body making its way up mine, his soft skin pressed against me. I could feel him between my legs, hard and cool, waiting for me, never taking. Asking.

"I want to be inside you, Sookie. Please let me be inside you," Eric begged. He begged!

"Yes!" I said immediately, unable to stand another moment without him.

He reached between us, guiding his length to my entrance, probing carefully again. I kept my eyes firmly on his face, watching the strain that colored his expression as he tried to hold himself back. He eased inside me slowly, giving me a chance to get used to him.

"Finally!" I said when he was completely inside me. This was it. Eric had taken from me the only thing I had to give him. I was happy to give it to him.

"Am I hurting you?" he asked, concern tingeing his voice. He shifted us so he could put his arms under me and hold me closer. I hugged him too, loving the feel of his body inside me and around me. I finally belonged to someone.

"No," I answered, and it was true. There was some discomfort, but no pain. I told him so and he smiled and kissed me tenderly as he began moving slowly.

He pulled away from our kiss to look at me as he made love to me. I put my hand on his cheek and caressed his back with the other. Like this I could pretend that he loved me, and I could admit that I loved him. After everything he'd done for me, and now to make my first time as a woman so special and loving, I couldn't stop myself from falling in love.

We spent a very long time moving slowly, kissing and caressing, smiling (shyly on my part), touching. His tender penetration eventually gave way to a baser need that we both shared. Nothing was uncomfortable anymore, on the contrary. I wanted him to go faster, to take me. It felt sublime to have him inside me, to know that he was mine. And I was his.

"I want you to do something Sookie," he said, stopping. I was willing to agree to anything to make him move again. I nodded expectantly, not trusting my voice. "I want you to drink blood from me, will you do it?"

I frowned in confusion. "Why? I'm not injured."

"Because it feels good, just for that," he said, waiting for my answer.

I couldn't believe I was about to agree to this. "Okay," I answered, and no sooner did I say it that he bit his wrist and offered it to me. I clamped my lips around the wounds, expecting his blood to taste like blood, but it didn't. It was a bit metallic, but sweet, and it warmed me as I drank.

Eric growled loudly and thrust himself inside me. I moaned with each thrust. It felt so good to have him inside me in more than one way. As I began to feel like that new feeling was about to sweep me away, Eric sank his fangs into my neck, and the moment he pulled my blood into himself I was gone. The pleasure was so intense that I lost control of my limbs and my mouth, as a primal scream tore itself from my throat. I was barely aware that Eric was having his own spectacular moment.

Slowly I came back to myself, with Eric licking at my neck lazily, making soft grumbling sounds of contentment. I sighed loudly, running the tips of my fingers over whatever bit of skin they happened to find on his body.

"You're so good to me, Sookie," he said, kissing the spot he'd been licking. I was taken aback, since I'd barely done anything. He must have been reading my mind again, because he elaborated on his statement. "You let me be your first lover and let me make love to you without being afraid of me."

Afraid of him? I loved him. "You are very good to me too, Eric," I said and meant it wholeheartedly.

The new infusion of his blood inside me allowed me to heal quickly from losing my virginity. We continued to make love all night, pausing for some stretches to talk and enjoy each other's company. When dawn approached he asked me to stay beside him, if I could, to sleep the day with him. I was tired in a good way, and sleepy to the nth degree, so I agreed to remain locked inside his bedroom and sleep the day away. I sent Amelia a message to let her know where I would be, snuggled into Eric's arms, and for the first time in my life felt like I belonged.

**TBC**

**A/N: Ahem! Will anybody give me a quick "uh-oh!"? An "oh, no!" will do.**

**As y'all know by now I have vacation on the brain. I will try to keep up with the updates, but if y'all don't hear from me… it's because I ran away with a Viking. LOL**

**P.S.: I stole a line from DAG… Sorry, but it's one of Eric's finest. ;-)**


	22. Cry Little Sister

**A/N:** I think I've said this before, but it bears repeating: Y'all are awesome! I tried my bestest to answer all your reviews, but if I missed any please forgive me. And thank you all for favoriting (I know… not a word… neither is bestest) and alerting the story.

A VERY special shout out to bebeschtroumph who caught the story a little later, but nevertheless caught my reference to _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ on chapter 5. Never leave home without a towel! You can use it as a towel, as a blanket, even as clothes if the need arises. I have at least three in my car, and they have always come in handy. I even used one as an umbrella!

So… I wrote this chapter because a few of you suggested we needed a Jason POV, and I happened to agree.

Enough blabbing…. On with the story.

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**CRY LITTLE SISTER**

I arrived at Barksdale at ten in the evening like Sookie and I had agreed. Actually, I was a few minutes early. Vampire Bill met me at the south gate. I'd called him as a favor. I didn't know what vampires had Sookie, and she didn't seem to feel in danger, but I always thought she was too trusting. Maybe I'd been too trusting too. Look what happened with Sam!

"Bill," I nodded and opened the locks to the truck. The vampire nodded briefly and came around to the passenger side. He got in without a word. "Where to?" I had to ask.

"They've made the Administration Building their headquarters. We shall go there. Make a right," he said. I followed the directions and we arrived at a nondescript building just like all the other buildings around it. There were several cars parked in front of it. "They're not here yet," Bill said and got out of the truck.

"Who? Sookie and who else?" I asked, getting out too.

"I see Pam's car here, but not Eric's. Sookie must be arriving separately with him," Bill answered as he walked leisurely towards the main door. When he reached the sidewalk leading up to the entrance he turned and stood holding his hands behind him at ease. "We shall wait."

"Jason? !" I heard a familiar voice call my name. It was Amelia, running from some other part of the building towards me. I was glad to see her doing well, but concerned at the same time. Now I knew for certain that Sookie was somewhere alone with a vampire.

Amelia caught me in a quick hug and then held me at arms' length examining me. Her face turned to shock. "What the fuck happened to you? Who did this to you?" she asked, looking at my arms. They still bore the marks of Calvin's bites. They had healed, but I still had scabs.

"Don't worry about that now. Where's Sookie?" I asked her, needing to see my sister already. Where the hell was she?

"Sookie was grabbing a bite to eat before coming here. Now, explain."

"I will as soon as Sookie gets here. I'm only going to tell the story once," I said sternly. Sometimes Amelia needed redirection.

"Here they are," Amelia said, pointing at an older SUV as it turned left to park in the row across from the building.

I watched closely as a tall blond vampire emerged from the driver's side of the truck and ran in a blur to get the passenger side's door. He opened it with a smile, and a small hand reached for his face. His face and an arm disappeared inside the vehicle, and I could hear a woman's giggle. It took me a moment to realize it was Sookie giggling. That vampire was… what the fuck was he doing with her? I started moving forward but a strong arm shot out in front of my chest.

"You cannot defeat him," Bill said. It was his arm on my chest. "Besides, she has not been harmed in any way."

I wasn't a complete fool. What Bill said was right: I couldn't go picking fights with vampires. Bill withdrew his arm and I kept watching as the blond vampire helped Sookie out of the truck.

Sookie looked radiant, literally. There was a glow about her, not completely like a vampire glow, but she was definitely brighter than she should have been. Other than that she was the picture of health and happiness. I watched in shock as she thread her arm into the vampire's offered arm and walked very close, touching bodies. I'd seen that look before, several times in fact, but never in Sookie. She was in love with the vampire. I switched my gaze to the vampire in question, and he was looking down at Sookie with a smile on his face. Immediately I knew they'd had sex.

"God damn it all to hell," I said under my breath, and I shouldn't have. Bill stiffened beside me, Amelia let out a low whistle, Sookie hadn't heard with her ears but she had certainly picked up on my mental state, and the tall vampire was now looking at me with hate in his eyes.

"Jason…" Sookie said under her breath, letting go of the blond man and walking hurriedly to me. She hugged me, which was very unlike her, and I hugged her back. I finally had my family back, what was left of it. "What did you do?" she asked, not letting go. I couldn't help explaining everything to her in my mind. She always knew what to ask so that my brain would yield the answer.

When she let me go she covered her mouth with her hands and tears were streaming down her face. She began shaking her head slowly, barely believing everything she had seen in my brain. "I can't believe you did that. I can't believe you asked for that," she said behind her hands, and her eyes started taking in the scabs in my arms, where they were the most visible.

"I had to. I had to be stronger somehow. Calvin agreed to help. He understood and did it. I didn't know where you were, Sookie, and I needed to find you," I explained, but her grief for me didn't abate. I knew what she was doing. She was about to blame herself all over again for my decision. Immediately I wished I could undo it, but it was too late. The next full moon would confirm whether or not I would turn into a werepanther, but I could already tell I was stronger and my senses were sharper.

"You let Calvin bite you? !" Amelia shrieked beside me, finally catching on.

"I didn't _let_ him. I _asked_ him to do it. If I'd come across a vampire, I would have asked to be turned. As a human I was nothing. As a supe I can do much more," I said, my eyes never leaving Sookie. Her hands had moved to her middle. She was holding on to her stomach. Either she was trying not to throw up, or I had just broken her heart. Maybe both.

"You're upsetting Sookie," the blond vampire, who I had to assume, was Eric, said in a possessive way. I didn't like it at all, and when she turned to him for comfort, I liked it even less. This was not turning out the way I'd envisioned it. I could already see that Sookie would not be coming home with me.

"Why don't we all go inside and find a private place so Jason and Sookie can talk?" Amelia asked, trying in her way to diffuse the situation.

A vampire woman came out of the main door and stood with her hands on her hips. She was small with long blond hair and was wearing the expression of someone who doesn't suffer fools gladly. She also seemed to be regarding us as fools. "Come inside this instant, all of you!" She turned around and opened the door, holding it for whoever moved first.

Eric already had his arm around Sookie and guided her past us to the door. I followed, and I knew Bill and Amelia would follow as well.

The petite blonde got in front of us quicker than I could see and led us through several long hallways to an office. Everything was as it always was in the Federal government buildings: utilitarian, nondescript. Eric and Sookie stood behind the desk until the blonde brought a chair for Sookie. She sat and Eric stood. At some point she would introduce us and I would be asked to sit. Until then I just watched.

"Thanks, Pam," Sookie said politely sitting on the executive chair that had been brought. That vampire man put his hands on her shoulders while she wiped her tears with a handkerchief. In between sniffles she finally made the introductions. "Eric, this is my older brother Jason. Jason, this is Eric the North Man and the new sheriff of this area," she said. She knew how she had introduced us was wrong, but she also willed me to understand by explaining the sheriff bit.

"North Man," I nodded, but proceeded quickly. I hadn't come here to waste time. I wanted my sister back. "I came here to bring Sookie home," I said to him.

"I'm not going home," said my darling, stubborn as a mule, sister. When she saw my expression she decided to explain. "Eric needs me here. There are a lot of humans that will be returning to the base and I need to make sure they're not from the Fellowship and mean harm."

"That's exactly what they made you do in prison! ! !" I yelled. I couldn't help it. First it was forced upon her, now she was volunteering? "What the fuck, Sookie? !"

"Shut up, Jason Stackhouse, and don't you use that language with me," she said through gritted teeth, barely raising her voice.

I crossed my arms in front of me, waiting for an answer.

"We didn't ask Sookie, she offered her talent," it was the small blonde vampire who spoke. "It will not do to have people who would do harm moving back into the base which is now being operated by vampires. We have no need of radicals. And, unlike humans, we will not punish those who belong to the Fellowship. They simply will not be allowed entrance."

"Jason, this is Pam," Sookie said, calming down. "I'm sorry Pam, but I don't know your title."

"I am the voice of reason, apparently," the girl shrugged. She looked to be younger than Sookie, but dressed like a soccer mom.

"Do you know for sure if you're turning?" Sookie asked me and her face gave away her pain.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I never thought I'd be the one to hurt her this way. I'd just wanted to find her and keep her safe. I'd failed on both counts. I'd thrust her on Sam who couldn't keep his instincts in check. After Calvin explained Amelia's rant I thought I might puke. Instead I'd beaten Sam to a bloody pulp, and he'd taken the beating like a broken man.

When I opened my eyes again, Sookie had resumed her crying. Sometimes I wondered why I even bothered speaking to her. She had seen every single sorry thought I'd just had. She knew me better than I knew myself. We had grown up with only our Gran to take care of us, and each other. Sookie and I had developed a language. She could read my mind, but I couldn't read hers, so she would speak to me in code or make gestures with meaning. That's how we communicated without the grown-ups finding out. I had kept her safe from so many things, but I hadn't kept her safe from this one last thing.

_I love you, _she gestured in our secret language. _I love him too._

That's when I knew I couldn't take her away from here. It was the first time she had confessed she loved anybody other than me or Gran. I was sure the vampire didn't return her sentiment, but I had to allow her some happiness and let her relationship with the vampire run its course. Eventually she'd come back home.

"I know," she said out loud, understanding that the vampire didn't love her, but she wanted that little bit of happiness too.

I asked her silently if she was sure, if she could handle this, if she could take the heartbreak when it came. She nodded. I told her to call me every day, to tell me everything. She nodded. And I asked her to come home when she was ready, that I missed her and I loved her. She stood and walked around the desk, hugging me and sobbing into my shoulder. I hugged her back and looked around the room. I looked straight into Eric's serious face.

"You better keep her safe," I said to him. It was bad enough that he was going to break her heart, but he would at least protect her because if he didn't, so help me God I would stake him.

"With my life," he said without any uncertainty.

At the time, Eric's statement seemed stock, something he would say to allay mine or Sookie's fears. Later, as I drove home I thought about it longer. Maybe, just maybe, he meant it. And if Eric would give up his whole long existence in order to keep Sookie safe, then that meant…

**TBC**

**A/N: I'm officially on vacation!**

**SO! How did y'all like what I did with Jason's character? He has some of his fairy powers (like being able to see vampires glow in the dark), but not the ability to read minds. He's also way more mature, even if he does still like to get into fights.**


	23. Choices

**A/N: **Hello, my pretties! I'm back. Yes I am. So, let's see what happened between Sookie and Jason when he went to the base. I'm sure you're all wondering if they actually spoke, and they did.

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**CHOICES**

I knew Jason wasn't expecting the physical contact from me, but I needed to feel close to my brother. He was all I had left. I hoped he understood that. I cried for the fate that awaited him, for what he'd agreed to do to himself. He was never going to be the same. Jason was never going to be human. What would happen when he wanted a family? He'd been the only one with any chance at having a normal life. Now he'd gone and ruined that forever. I couldn't help but blame myself, though I knew he was thinking really hard that I shouldn't do that.

I pulled away from our hug and brought Eric's handkerchief up to my eyes again. He'd handed it to me silently when he first saw me crying for my brother. Now I turned to him with a pleading look and he understood that I needed some time alone with the only family I had left. With a quick motion he bid Pam, Amelia and Bill to follow him out of his office and left Jason and me alone. We sat across from each other.

"What…? I don't know where to begin," I confessed. Everything I'd seen inside Jason's mind had been jumbled and violent, full of fear and rage.

"I stayed behind because I couldn't stand what they had done to you," he said. Finally his thoughts cleared enough that I could gather what he was thinking. He'd imagined I'd been raped because he'd heard my… my screams…

"I was never raped," I said in no more than a whisper. I made the effort and spoke louder. It was all in the past and there was nothing left to fear. "They hurt me, they beat me, and one of them did touch me, but we escaped before I was raped."

Jason's shoulders sagged as he put his elbows on his knees. He let his head fall. It was a look that could be read as either defeat or relief. When his shoulders began shaking I couldn't help it and cried with him. "I'm sorry Jason," I said because I honestly didn't know what else to say.

"I'm the one who's sorry. I shouldn't have been so hell bent on seeking revenge and should have taken care of you. I should have left with you, and you wouldn't have to worry about any of this," he waved a hand in the air to indicate my involvement with the vampires, I supposed.

"It's done. Jason, you have to understand that Eric healed me. He came to save me at his own personal expense, and Pam's. They found Amelia, and they all care about me. I love you, but can you see why I feel the way I feel?"

His eyes were red and his cheeks were streaked with tears when he answered. "Yes. I do miss you, but I want you to be happy. After everything you've been through I just never expected you'd find happiness this way. I'm sorry that I have a hard time understanding, but I swear I will not interfere. Now it's your turn to understand that this," he pointed at a particularly deep set of teeth marks on his arm, "was not something you did to me. I chose this. It was my choice in the new world we're living in. In a way it is very good that you are protected by vampires. I wouldn't want you by yourself." Jason took a deep breath. He was looking at me intently. "Are you absolutely sure about your choice?"

I knew he wasn't asking me about my choice to live with Eric, but about my choice of Eric himself. I shrugged and smiled with new tears springing to my eyes. I was happy and sad all at the same time. I loved Eric. I knew that eventually I would lose him. "I want him for as long as I can have him. For now, that's enough."

"You deserve something better than that," Jason said reaching for my hand. His thoughts transferred immediately. He saw me with some nondescript guy at his house, grilling steaks with kids running all around us.

I let go of his hand. "You know that can never happen. I've tried and there isn't anybody that can shield their thoughts from me. Not even shifters like Sam. I can only _be_ with Eric. Or someone like him. I don't mind, Jason. I've known my lot in life for a long time now. I'll take happiness where I can get it for as long as I can have it," I said, trying to transmit my certainty. It helped that I'd been able to stop crying.

"That reminds me of love and loss and all that stuff that you're so good at," Jason said with half a smile. He knew I liked to read.

I quoted him part of Tennyson's _In Memoriam_, the part that made the most sense to me. "A warmth within the breast would melt, The freezing reason's colder part, And like a man in wrath the heart, Stood up and answer'd 'I'd have felt.'"

"You want to feel," he concluded for me. Jason was smart. He just didn't like to read.

"I already feel. You know how Gran always said everything happens for a reason, and only God knows it?"

"She said it a lot when she remembered Mom and Dad," Jason agreed.

"I think there's more to that sentence. Everything happens for a reason, and only God knows it _initially._ Eventually the reason becomes clear to us mortals too. June was such a terrific time, and my birthday was amazing. There are others out there that are magical. What I can do is nothing compared to what _they_ can do… compared to what you'll be able to do," I added in a smaller voice.

"It's not going to be a complete change. Bitten shifters don't fully turn into the animal. Calvin says I'll look like a half man, half beast, sort of what the werewolves in movies look like."

"But what else will you be able to do?" I pressed.

"I'll be stronger, my senses will be sharper, and I'll be faster. I'm already starting to feel the changes."

"You will change completely during the next full moon? When is that?"

"The next full moon is in less than two weeks."

"Will you need help?"

Jason paused and thought about his answer. "I truly don't know. Calvin is my packmaster and he will help me for sure." Then, because we were talking about shifting and shifters, Jason's thoughts filled with Sam and everything he had imagined that Sam did to me, plus what he did to Sam.

It was horrible to watch. Or read. Or whatever it is I do. I had to shield quickly but it was too late. The images had entered my mind, along with my own memories. I tried to shake them off, but it was hard. Sometimes, lately, things like that had a way of assaulting me, making me feel bad and small. Weak. The depression would set in for a brief period and it was tough to climb out of it. Earlier that same day, when I'd woken up next to Eric, I'd had a terrible bout of crying. There was no reason, other than I'd felt alone. I didn't know vampires could sort of wake up during the day, but Eric had, and he had held me tight and let me cry, his skin becoming damp with my tears.

I stood up suddenly, something inside me needing the one who could soothe me. No sooner had I done that and Eric opened the door, walking with purpose to me and holding me tight. I didn't know how I'd called him to me, and decided it wasn't worth trying to figure it out. I buried my face against his chest and inhaled deeply, and other memories, good ones, replaced the bad ones.

"Are you sure about this Sookie?" Eric asked me in a very low voice. I knew he meant whether I could read hundreds of minds to figure out whether or not they deserved a place inside Barksdale.

I'd already made up my mind. For everyone's safety I had to do this. It would be the first time my ability would be used for the good of the many and for something truly important. Eric had assured me that the humans who sympathized with the Fellowship of the Sun would not be harmed, because that would undermine the government that the vampires were trying to put back together.

"Yes, I'm sure. That's not why I'm upset. Just… give me a minute," I said, taking another deep breath. He continued soothing me, and my brother chose that moment to talk about me as if I wasn't there. I couldn't blame him, though. He was very upset at how quickly I'd lost it.

"Has this been happening a lot?" Jason asked Eric.

"Once in a while. Today Sookie has had two bad times. But yesterday you were fine all day. What has made you so sad?" Eric asked me, caressing my hair and asking me the question directly.

Since I couldn't explain it, I shrugged. The day before I'd been nervous preparing to spend the night with Eric, so bad thoughts hadn't invaded me. The day before that I'd had a brief bad spell but I didn't think anybody had noticed. Obviously someone had.

"We will get you help, dear one," Eric said in a soothing voice. I kept thinking of the soldiers coming back from wars with post-traumatic stress disorder and wondered if something like that was happening to me. It wouldn't be fair to the soldiers. I hadn't suffered in a war, not really.

Eric remained for the rest of our conversation, which centered on my new job. Jason knew my limits as well as I did, and made sure Eric understood them too. It seemed that Eric had been well aware of them because he agreed politely but didn't say much. I'd been expecting him to say something, like ask me again if I was sure, or ask me why I hadn't told him my own limits and let my brother do it. Eric didn't do any such thing.

We walked Jason back to his truck. Eric stayed by the entrance to the building while I said goodbye. I grabbed my big brother and hugged him tight. I'd already told him I loved him, but I felt like I needed to show him a couple more times.

"Call me, please," he said, hugging me back just as tight.

"You can call Eric's cell phone anytime too," I said, since Eric had already said that earlier. I felt like repeating it. "Make sure that Calvin hasn't lost that number, in case something happens with you."

Jason nodded and pulled away. He looked about to cry again, but got inside the cab before I saw any tears. He was thinking that I didn't need to see him cry anymore, for my own peace of mind. I walked back to Eric who was staring at me intently. I felt guilty and a little bit odd that all these people were waiting for me to go off the deep end again.

"I'm okay," I said, reaching Eric's side and turning away to watch my brother's truck pull away from the parking lot. I don't know… was I okay? I wasn't tremendous, not after my brother's visit.

"I have some work to do here. Do you want to go home?" Eric asked me.

"No, I'm not tired. I can help," I said quickly. If I'd gone home I would have felt like a cripple.

Eric reached for my hand, threading his fingers through mine and we went back inside the building. We were heading to the area where Amelia and several other vamps were going through paperwork. They were trying to sort out who was in the hospital that actually belonged in the base. Some of the humans found inside the base had been taken from around it, but did not actually have any business with it. They had been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Before we reached the large conference room where they had been working, however, Eric pulled us into a darkened office, closing the door behind us and pinning me against the nearest wall. He claimed my lips with his, reached down and lifted my legs around his hips using the wall as leverage. He pushed his tongue into my mouth and I accepted it, feeling the sudden hunger as well. I held onto him tightly with my arms and legs like vises around him, completely forgetting how strong he was. I also didn't want any space between us. When he started his low growl, I could feel it everywhere within my own body, the vibrations igniting my lust. My brain protested strongly against what we were doing and where we were doing it. My body wasn't heeding any cautions.

Eric pulled his mouth away from mine, but only an inch. I opened my eyes to gaze into his, asking him silent questions, wanting to know his thoughts, what he wanted from me. His expression changed as he brought his hand up to caress my face. "You're mine," he whispered, and his eyes widened to make sure I understood.

I nodded because his thumb was making a slow circuit of my lips. I was his for as long as he wanted to claim me. God save me, I loved him, and that conviction filled my heart and made it expand. I kissed his finger, willing him to hear my screaming heart. _I love you, I love you! _

The next kiss was slow and soft, only our lips touching over and over. My breathing returned to normal and my heart slowed its frantic pace. Eric's growl quieted and he finally set me back down on the floor. He didn't let me go, though. When his lips left mine it was to plant soft kisses all over my face, making love to me without having sex. I caressed his hair. We had spent a long time the night before doing just this, exploring and kissing, touching.

"I can't stand seeing you sad. You are happy with me," Eric said, still kissing me. By now he had moved to my neck.

"How did you know I was sad earlier? What made you come into the office?" I asked, curious as hell. Had he been eavesdropping? I hoped not.

Eric pulled away to look into my eyes. "I felt you."

He didn't elaborate. "How did you feel me?" I asked, because I had to.

"My blood inside you lets me feel what you're feeling. When you are happy or sad, I know it." After delivering that bit of news he studied my face, waiting for me to lose it again or something.

I nodded, understanding. That was the reason vampires did not share their blood with just anyone. The person receiving the blood would transmit all their feelings to said vampire. "Okay," I said and nodded slowly, finally understanding one more thing: Eric knew I loved him. I would never have to say it out loud. He could feel it. I wasn't sure if I ought to have been embarrassed or relieved. After about two seconds it didn't matter anymore, because he tired of our distance and brought his lips to mine again.

**TBC**


	24. Had to Have It All

**A/N: **Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews to the last chapter, and also to those of you who favorited and alerted the story. It was so inspiring that I started writing this chapter right away. It's a whopper!

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**HAD TO HAVE IT ALL**

I tried to give Sookie some space. As much as I wanted to remain nearby and eavesdrop on her conversation with her brother, I owed her better than that. As it was I could feel her much stronger after the second blood exchange. It was the only way I could figure out to keep her by my side other than turning her. I took my leave together with Pam, Bill and Amelia, and directed them as far as possible so that our vampire senses could not detect Sookie's conversation with Jason.

After several minutes during which I paced, I felt Sookie's unfathomable sadness. It had awakened me earlier from my day death. The despair she felt had been so great that I had to hold her tight, to reassure her and help her the only way I knew how. I'd never felt anything like it. I wondered how she could conjure it up herself. When I felt it again that night, I made my way immediately to her side. She was standing inside the office, as if waiting for my arrival. The sadness and despair began to dissipate the minute she was in my arms. I had that effect on Sookie.

I suspected she was shell-shocked. The new term nowadays was that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. It would explain the sudden nightmares as well. I knew Sookie was trying hard to dispel the sadness on her own, but there was only so much she could do, and then a sudden memory would take her under. She needed help. I would find it for her.

When she was happy, which thankfully was most of the time, her happiness fed mine in a way I never could have foreseen. We had spent a whole night making love to each other. The whole night I reveled in that new feeling that emanated from her. I was sure she was the only one who could ever feel that way. Perhaps it had to do with her telepathy.

After her brother left, as soon as I could, I took Sookie to a dark office and kissed her fervently, to drown in her feelings again. She was like a drug and I wanted more. With a lot of effort I broke the kiss, claiming her one more time. Sookie was mine, and the thought of her leaving me was intolerable. I'd never felt so possessive of another that wasn't my child. I kissed her some more, enjoying the taste of her, her warmth, her feelings.

A knock on the door made Sookie jump within my arms. It was Pam. I would have been annoyed at my child for the interruption, but I knew I was needed elsewhere.

"I'm sorry, dear one. I'm being summoned," I said to Sookie, trying to calm her. She nodded immediately, understanding the other demands on my person, demands that I did not want to spend time fulfilling ever since she had become mine.

"We should go," she said, and cleared her throat, fixing her clothes and trying to smooth her hair. I had not been kind to her, and felt terrible at her disheveled look. I helped her get back to rights, earning me some smiles as I ran my hands over her curves.

The rest of the night was amazingly productive. I was able to speak to the news editors at several local television stations, and issued a statement that we had taken over Barksdale, and also all the former residents of the base were welcome to come back. We would start with the residents and later resume the actual functions of the base. I also sent several summons to the chiefs of police for the parishes under my command. They were summoned to appear before me the next night. At one point, right after the Great Revelation, I had been the one to visit those chiefs and introduce myself as the future sheriff of the vampires, the one in charge of overseeing my race. Some had been surprised, some had not really cared. They would certainly care now that the human government's overreaction had compelled my race to take over the governing.

We vampires had centuries of experience, but had been unable to show ourselves or we would have risked scaring our food source irrevocably. The introduction of synthetic blood had changed that, but it had all gone wrong anyway. There was still fear. There were still zealots. And the stupid Weres had made a bad situation worse. They should have never come out.

It was close to three in the morning when I went to find Sookie to take her home. My night was over, therefore so was hers. I found her talking animatedly with several of my people. Godric had taken a liking to her, and Sookie seemed to enjoy his company in turn. She was also talking to Maxwell and Indira. Pam and Amelia were nowhere in sight.

Something that Sookie did ignited an as-yet-unknown emotion within me. The emotion felt like fear and rage mixed together. She laughed at something Godric said, and all I wanted to do was tear Godric to pieces. I felt my gums itch, my fangs readying for battle. What was he doing with Sookie? Her voice stopped my thoughts in their tracks.

"Eric," she said my name. When I looked at her she was beaming a wide smile at me, a smile that faltered when she saw my expression, no doubt. "Is everything okay? Is it time to go home?" she asked, getting up from her seat at the table and moving to me, wasting very little time.

"It is time to go home," I managed to say, grabbed her hand and took her with me.

She was silent as we walked to the car. Once inside it she turned within her seat and reached for my shoulder. "Is everything okay?" she asked again. She could obviously tell something was bothering me.

"I did not like the way Godric was speaking to you," I told her the truth. I could only lie to her about one thing, and it was a lie of omission. If she ever asked me about our fledgling blood bond, I would tell her everything. I could not lie to her about anything else.

Sookie did not stop touching me, and in fact squeezed my shoulder gently. "You were jealous of Godric?" she asked.

I turned briefly to look at her. She was serious, but I could feel her amusement. I had to think about my answer because I could not remember the last time I had been jealous of what was mine. I knew what envy felt like, coveting something that wasn't mine and feeling furious at the person who had whatever I wanted. Jealousy was different. It had no good enough reason.

Sookie spoke in my silence. "We were talking about football. I don't like Godric, not the way you're thinking. He looks like he was fifteen when he was turned, and sometimes his views are too old. I like you," she added the last sentence in a very small voice, at the same time that her feeling invaded me. It was that feeling that I craved so much. I let it envelop me and it helped bring my jealousy under control.

"I was jealous, and I apologize," I said. Later I would have to explain that all these feelings and emotions were new to me and I would have to ask her to forgive me. Again.

Her hand moved from my shoulder to my face, and I pressed my cheek against the warmth. "Apology accepted. Thank you for telling me. I wouldn't want you sulking about that," she said and moved her hand to her lap. I reached for it and held it, needing to touch her.

"Will your brother be all right during the change?" I asked, because I knew it was important to her.

"He says his packmaster will help him. Either way Calvin Norris still has your phone number, just in case something goes wrong," Sookie paused and took a deep breath. "I hope I don't get a phone call from Calvin, ever."

"Do you know where I keep the keys to the truck, in case you need to leave?"

"Yeah… in the first kitchen drawer next to the flashlight. Why do you need a flashlight?" she asked. I knew she'd wanted to ask me that for a long time.

I chuckled. "It was in there when I bought the house. The former owners forgot it. I think it works."

"It does."

"Either way, I would ask you to please not leave the house during the day unless it was absolutely necessary."

"Of course," she said, and I glanced to see her rolling her eyes. She looked at me squarely. "I'm not stupid. I have no desire of getting into trouble of any kind. I've had my share, thank you very much."

"Sookie…"

"I know what you meant," she interrupted. "I know you mean well, but give me some credit. I'm scared too, you know. It doesn't help that I feel like my memories highjack my brain and I have to deal with all y'all's pity." She was getting mad. I thought of interrupting, but I decided that she needed to vent. "I'm not weak. I've never been weak. I've had to put up with my curse all these years, and I've done it with grace and aplomb as much as I could. When I was younger I didn't know how to stop others' minds from invading mine, so I earned the nickname Crazy Sookie. Nobody forgot. I've been Crazy Sookie for a long time, but just because they called me that didn't mean I was crazy. I'm not. This," she pointed at her head, "_thing_ that's happening to me, _they_ did this to me. _They_ made me weak and I hate it! I wished them dead with all my might, but I couldn't stop the beatings and I couldn't stop them from hurting my family. And now I can't stop them from being inside my brain and I hate it!"

She wasn't crying, but she was shaking with rage. I squeezed her hand, letting her know that I was listening. Sookie took a deep ragged breath, then another, and calmed herself by degrees.

"I'm sorry," she said finally.

"Don't ever apologize for telling me how you feel," I answered immediately. Perhaps in all this she would name that one feeling that had me wrapped around her finger.

"It seems I took it out on you, and I didn't mean to," she said looking straight ahead. We were almost home.

"I can take whatever you dish out, dear one. I am here to listen if that is what you need."

"Why are you so good to me?" she asked, looking at me and shaking her head.

"Because you are good to me," I answered and smiled at her as I pulled into the driveway. I did not want to use the garage because my blood-stained sword was still there. I had already disposed of my boots and socks, but the sword needed some special attention.

I followed Sookie upstairs. She was moving slow, and I knew she was tired. I had made up my mind to kiss her goodnight and leave her be, when she reached for me and pulled me inside her bedroom. No words can describe my happiness at that moment and it only escalated when she pulled me down to her to kiss me. Her lips demanded a quick response and I was happy to reciprocate. She tasted so good. Our kiss was interrupted when she took her shirt off, giving me easy access to her bountiful breasts.

My hands found her breasts easily, still encased in the bra that she was not helping me to take off. I pulled on it softly and it tore within my grasp, laying her breasts bare to my touch. And oh how beautiful they were! I felt my pants fall; Sookie's hands had not been idle. Then my shirt was on the floor too. I made quick work of Sookie's jeans and panties and we both fell on her bed on our sides in a frenzy of need, kissing and touching; she was almost violent. I had to be inside her. I needed her so badly. I lifted her leg over my hip and reached between us, touching her to make sure she was ready to receive me. She gasped as my finger slid easily inside her, so I removed it quickly and buried my cock inside her moist center.

I sighed, putting my head on her shoulder in relief. I had ached to be inside her so badly, and now that I was it was like… like coming home after a long night. I didn't want to move. I only wanted to enjoy this moment as long as possible. Sookie's fingers traced soft outlines on my back, caressing and soothing. I held her tight against me, her skin ablaze with the heat of want. We had been desperate to join our bodies, and once joined we knew the peace of a need fulfilled.

When I brought my face up to look at her she smiled softly and bit her lower lip. It was as if she was keeping a secret. I pulled out a little and moved inside her slowly, lost in her gaze, lost inside that feeling that I wanted to keep with me forever. I kissed her over and over and the feeling flared. I stroked her back and it did it again. The feeling was tied to my actions, and I took pleasure in the fact that I had some control over it. Her lust began flaring as well. She wanted me like I wanted her.

After a long time of my moving slowly inside her, Sookie began moving her hips back and forth, taking over our coupling. It was awkward for her, but I could take a hint when I felt one. I moved inside her a little faster, a little harder, listening to her sudden moans as I repeatedly hit a pleasurable spot. Her heart started beating just a little faster, and her blood called to me to feast. I retained some of my higher brain functions, enough to make my decision to completely bond Sookie to me. Better not to wait. I was willing to be hers, but she needed to be mine thoroughly. The bond would unite us the way she wanted. I wanted it too.

"Can you bite hard, hard enough to draw blood?" I asked her when she was close to ecstasy.

"Yes! Yes!" she said panting and sighing, already lost to her body's pleasure. I lifted her head close to my shoulder, at the right angle so that I could bite her too.

"Do it, lover. Bite," I said through gritted teeth, trying to postpone my pleasure, trying to not bite her until I was sure my blood was making its way inside her. She bit hard, my own blood from the night before giving her the strength she needed to break through my skin with her human teeth. I felt my skin tear as a wave of rapture hit me. I couldn't hold off any longer, sinking my fangs into her soft flesh, her blood filling my mouth with its sweet exhilaration. The taste! The scent! The hot wet liquid spilled into my mouth at the same time that I spilled inside Sookie, her own heavy moans echoing inside the room together with mine.

Sookie's skin began glowing as we finished our exchange. I healed the spot where I bit her with my blood, pricking my tongue with my fangs and making sure to leave no trace of my feeding on her skin. I felt a peace I had not known in so long, that at first I wasn't sure if it was Sookie's feeling or mine. But it was mine. Sookie had given me this most precious gift. She was mine, completely. My bonded. I would have to explain it properly, but for now I enjoyed my peace.

My peace did not last very long. Sookie gave a sudden gasp and a pang of fear cascaded through the newly formed bond. Immediately I took hold of her face, though she tried her best to leave my grasp.

"What's wrong, dear one?" I asked, trying to make her look at me. Her eyes darted all over my features, not settling on my eyes which is where I wanted them. I tried to send her peace through the bond, not to manipulate her, but to let her know this wasn't something to fear.

"I can hear you. Not your mind, but…" she stopped talking abruptly and I let her go. She sat up and reached for a pillow, to cover her naked form. "I'm not supposed to be able to hear you," she said, holding the pillow tight.

I sat up too. This was my mistake. I hadn't anticipated the fact that she would equate our bond with being able to read my mind like she read others' minds. "You can't hear my mind, but you can feel me. I'm yours, Sookie. This is what you wanted, all of me. I gave it to you. There will never be another for me, only you."

"What do you mean?" she asked, and I knew I would have to explain right then and there.

"I have bonded my existence to you by giving you my blood," I said carefully, omitting the fact that the reverse was also true.

"You mean if I die, you'll die too?" she asked, looking skeptical. She was smart and knew I wasn't being completely truthful. Plus, she could probably feel I was being deceitful. However, I could answer her question truthfully.

"Yes. If you die, I will die too. But I can also feel if you're in danger, so I can save your life. It's more than that, Sookie. I wanted to be yours," I paused. I truly did want to be hers, property of a frail human with an extraordinary skill. I got closer. "I am yours." I reached for her face and she leaned forward to let me caress her. "Can you feel me? Do you believe I mean you harm? You asked me to be yours and I agreed. This is what it means. This is what you asked of me."

Sookie shook her head slowly. "I didn't understand. I didn't know…"

"Do you not want me? Have you changed your mind?"

"NO!" she said immediately. "I want you. Eric I want you so bad I don't even know what to do with myself. I didn't know you felt that way."

"I don't know what I feel anymore. Feelings and vampires do not usually mix. I did not know I was jealous earlier until you told me. Feelings are not alien to us, but we keep them closely guarded so we can continue our existence without that additional burden. I tire of it. You are so full of emotion that to have my blood inside you has been an unexpected…" I had to search for the word, "joy," I concluded.

Sookie breathed deeply. "I don't know what to say." She swallowed loudly, as if she was eating her words. It wasn't so much that she didn't know what to say, but that she did not want to say something.

"Don't speak. Come with me to my room. Let's make love until first light. Spend the day with me." I stood up and offered her my hand. She was at liberty to decline my invitation, and I promised myself that I would not be upset.

Her hand felt small in mine as we walked to my room. Once there I laid her down on my bed, laying beside her so I could look at her. Her skin was honey where it had met the sun and milk where she had been covered. The pink rose color of her nipples was as inviting as the dark gold color of the curls over her sex. I explored every inch of her luscious body, first with my fingertips, then with my lips. More than anything I relished the fact that I was the first man to touch her this way, and now I would also be the last. She belonged to me.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright, alright, alright! Give her a minute, will ya!" Amelia shouted, bursting into the room and grabbing Sookie from her chair. "Coffee's here, and donuts… Krispy Kreme!"

"Do you mind? I do need a breather," Sookie looked at me with a pained expression. She had been reading minds for an hour already.

The broadcast on the news around the Shreveport/Bossier area had coincided with many others around the nation. People were returning to their homes on bases all over the United States. Only I, of all the sheriffs, could ascertain that the people returning were the right people to have in charge of the base, thanks to my Sookie. We had set up our interrogation (though one could hardly call it that) inside the Security Police building, where they had the rooms with the two-way mirrors. Nobody could see that Sookie was there, as I did not want her to become a target in case she read a less than pleasant thought.

In the other room, making the introductions, were Indira and Bill. They were the most benevolent looking vampires, the ones who had spent the most time trying to acclimate to life inside a human community, and they were friendly without having to try too hard. They also knew how to begin the right conversation and steer thoughts the right way for Sookie to read, without arousing suspicion. They looked more like a welcoming committee than investigators, but in fact that's what they were. I had named them both investigators for my area. They had a natural ability for thinking "outside the box."

"Go, Sookie, dearest. You deserve a break," I said and grabbed her hand, bringing her close. She put her free hand around my neck and looked up with a smile. "Are you holding up okay?" I asked in a quieter voice.

"Yeah… a little coffee and I can do this all night long," she said and winked. She was beautiful, and sexy as hell. Between her words and that wink I felt my cock stir. She would bring about my final death. I had no doubt. I watched her walk away, staring at her ass.

"You did it, didn't you?" Pam asked me. It was the first free moment she had found to accost me.

"I don't know to what you are referring," I said, keeping my English proper. After all, she had been the one to teach me "proper" English.

In a whisper so low that I knew nobody else could hear she said, "You bonded with Sookie, didn't you?"

I'd had to bend a little to hear Pam speak, but I straightened up to my full height, folding my arms over my chest and daring her to second-guess my decision once more. "Yes I did," I said in a normal voice.

Pam eyed me carefully. She wasn't disapproving. A good look at the bond with my child told me she was worried. "I hope she understands, and I hope she won't regret it," she said in a softer voice.

"Why would she regret it?" I pressed.

"Humans change, Eric. It is the only sure thing about them. Right now her feelings for you cloud her judgment, but one day she might want to do something different with her life, but she will be bound to you. Moreover, when she withers, will you feel about her the same? I don't believe you thought this one through," Pam said. At the very least she was sincere.

Talk of Sookie's feelings brought me up short. "What feelings are clouding her judgment?"

It was Pam's turn to look at me in confusion. "You really don't know, do you? And here I thought you understood humans so well, or at least so much better than me." Pam started to walk away without answering my question. I walked behind her into the room where Sookie had been reading minds. Everyone seemed to be taking a break around us.

"Explain," I said, almost using my power as maker over Pam. But I didn't. I'd had no need to do that for a long time.

"Not here. We'll talk later. Sookie and Amelia are walking back," she said, and she was right.

Sookie walked in the door with a donut in one hand and a large cup of coffee in the other. Pam left the room and closed the door behind her, leaving me alone with my lover. Sookie took the chair and I sat on the table in front of her.

"It's really a shame that you can't eat. This is delicious," she said pointing at the donut.

"I have no desire to eat anything but your body," I said and smiled as she blushed. The blood under her cheeks only made her that much desirable to me. "Soon I will have to leave you alone with Pam while I meet with the chiefs of police. Will you be okay?"

"Oh, sure! You go ahead and do your big bad vampire thing. Pam's cool. I think she and Amelia are getting along really well, don't you?" she asked and licked her fingers. I imagined her doing that to parts of my anatomy. She was killing me, I wanted her so bad. It didn't help at all that I'd already had her once as soon as I woke up for the night and found her warm body right next to me in bed. That had only been the first course, as far as I was concerned.

"I believe so, yes," I answered with effort, trying to rein in my lust.

Sookie drank her coffee in a manner worthy of a true Southern Belle. I'd seen (and heard) so many humans slurping when sipping from the lid, but Sookie wrapped her lips around the opening and drank noiselessly. I liked her more and more every day. She sat back in her chair, crossing her legs at her ankles. I could not remember ever seeing her cross her legs any other way. Sookie may have been born poor, but her upbringing had been top notch. I mentally tipped my hat to her dearly departed grandmother.

"You're staring," Sookie said shyly and looked down at her hands around the coffee cup. I could spy a small smile as well.

"You're beautiful. My eyes can't seem to get my fill of you," I said, and her smile widened. Still she did not look up, but my favorite feeling migrated from her to me. I had to know. "What are you feeling right now?"

Sookie looked up wide-eyed and scared. My favorite feeling was replaced by her fear and it hit me hard. I almost felt dizzy when I heard her ask, "What do you mean?"

I took a deep breath to fill my being with her scent before speaking with the borrowed air. "Whatever you were feeling just now before you became scared. I liked it. How did I scare you? I meant you no harm."

"I know you won't hurt me," she said quickly, but winced anyway as if her statement wasn't completely truthful. She looked away then back at me then her fear gave way to determination. She stood, fitting her body between my legs and wrapping her arms around my neck. My hands had a mind of their own and reached for her bottom, caressing her beautiful backside and wishing it were bare. Something she did opened our bond even more. It wasn't the same as the one I shared with Pam as her maker. This was different.

Sookie's whole life was laid before my mind, as if she was telling me the story of her life. I could see her lips moving, and I was trying to listen, but the images that flooded into my brain were making it extremely difficult. What had she done? I could only stare in disbelief, absorbing Sookie's history, knowing everything about her. There were no words to describe this new experience.

Whatever she did next closed off the exchange, and I was left with so many questions that I knew they showed on my face. Sookie stopped, looking like she was taken aback.

"What's wrong?" she asked, truly concerned for me. I could feel it.

For once I was at a loss for words. I did my best to gather my wits and explain. "It seems as if you opened your mind for me and transmitted your thoughts. I saw your whole life, your whole history. How did you do that?"

She frowned in confusion, and then raised a skeptic eyebrow. "I can't do that, Eric. Do you know how many times I've wished for somebody else to hear my mind?"

Plenty of times, I was sure. "You did it, Sookie. I know you history now. Whatever you wanted me to know, I know it."

Her sadness hit me like a freight train. "No you don't."

She didn't say anything else as she let go of me and sat back on the chair. Bill and Indira were back in the other room with a whole human family that was reporting back to base. It was the typical American family with two parents and two children. Pam entered our room and waved me off, letting me know that it was time for me to meet with the chiefs of police. I'd take Godric and Maxwell with me as a show of force, though I doubted I would need it.

Meeting after meeting, while I addressed problems regarding infractions against humans, and even while I drafted a new ad for the newspaper classifieds for vampire police positions, I kept thinking of Sookie's ability and how it had transferred to me. It seemed she hadn't been aware. I'd had no way of knowing something like this could happen when I bonded with her. Obviously I found it very handy if we could control it.

My musings were interrupted by a sudden upheaval in Sookie's feelings. I made my way to her as fast as I could. Something had upset her immensely. I found her clinging to Pam in the room where I'd left them, and a man and woman, part of a different family, were being escorted out of the other room by Bill. Indira remained with the children.

"Those two were from the Fellowship," Pam explained. "They kidnapped the children. Indira will remain with them until we find the parents."

"The parents are dead," Sookie said in a ghost of a voice.

She didn't have to transmit her thoughts for me to understand. "Where are they from, Sookie?"

Her face remained impassive, but inside she was screaming. I could feel it tearing my insides apart. "Bon Temps," she said succinctly.

I immediately called Sheriff Dearborn's cell phone number. He was my human counterpart in Renard Parish to which Bon Temps belonged. I gave him the information, as much as I had (Pam was feeding me some of it as I spoke), and the man said he was turning around and heading back to Barksdale to pick up the children. I subsequently called the local human police to have them come pick up the kidnappers / murderers.

I also knew that the problems with the Fellowship were far from over. We would have to quash their efforts once and for all. The best way to do that was from within.

**TBC**

**A/N: Hmm… So, Sookie can mess with Eric's mind, huh? Turnabout is fair play! NOW can I get my "uh-oh's"? :-)**


	25. And I Forgot to Tell You I Love You

**A/N: **I'm always amazed at how much love this story is getting. Thank you so much to all those who have reviewed, alerted and favorited the story. I'm always so touched when y'all like my stories enough to favorite me as an author. It fills my heart with joy!

* * *

**AND I FORGOT TO TELL YOU I LOVE YOU**

"_Subtle in wickedness, eager to hurt; ever fertile in fresh deceptions, they change the perceptions and befoul the emotions of men…; they… disguise themselves as angels of light, bear Hell always about them."  
__**Malleus Maleficarum**_

"Just, never mind! I'll do it," the man said, yanking the gun away from the woman, whose resolve was wavering as she stared into the eyes of her victims. Two shots and it was over.

Time stopped.

The scene was filled with red and pink, healthy matter spread on the walls, stuff that belonged on the inside was now oozing outside. Sightless eyes, witnesses, no longer able to testify to the actions of that afternoon.

When time picked up again the wails of two children filled my ears, except it wasn't my ears so much as my synapses. The children were silent. Their grief was pouring from every pore, their souls laid bare and destroyed by what they had seen.

I had seen it all as if it had happened to me. Both children were broadcasting the same thing into my brain, over and over, like a broken record stuck on the same horrifying event. The two people who had killed their parents were standing right behind them. I knew the children and their deceased parents: the man had been Joe, and he worked in Jason's road crew. The woman had been Mandy, and she worked at the local bakery in Bon Temps. There was no reason to target them just to steal their children. They were humans, they were hardworking Christian people.

"Get those people away from the children," I said in a low voice. I noticed a set of strong slender arms around me, keeping me from shaking more than I already was.

"Bill," Pam said out loud. Bill could hear both of us perfectly well without the use of the microphone between the rooms. He immediately took the man and woman away and Indira remained with the children.

Eric appeared after two heartbeats. He'd felt my sudden rage, or grief, or… I don't know what I was feeling at the time, but I was swiftly thrown into that infinite sadness that had no good enough name. I heard the questions and I answered them automatically, trying to shore up my shields against the onslaught of images still playing over and over in the children's minds.

"I can't stay here," I said and let go of Pam. I walked away in a daze, not really sure if anybody followed, and went to the ladies' room several doors down. The distance made it easier to block out the minds of the children still in the room with Indira: Aiden and Emma. Those were their names.

I bent over a sink and washed my face with cold water automatically. No matter what I did the images were part of my memory. It was fine and dandy to be able to give my curse to Eric, or whatever it was that I'd done, but with the memories still buried inside my brain there was no way for me to feel better about anything.

When I looked up into the mirror in front of me, I found him standing right behind me. He'd made no noise, and if he had I hadn't noticed. I turned to him a little ashamed of my breakdown. How many more could I have before he got tired of me? I knew they were counted.

"I'm sorry," I murmured and looked down, unable to meet his eyes any longer. His hand came into my line of vision as he put two fingers under my chin to make me look at him again.

"You're not used to this. I have to be honest that I hate losing your help, but I cannot allow you to do this any longer," he said examining my expression.

"I want to help. How else are you going to keep people like that away from here? They have no conscience, they have no… no shame," I couldn't come up with words. "They're not human!" Eric took my face in his hands, trying to calm me down but not knowing how. "Let me help," I said in a sure tone.

"You have some time to dig inside their brains while we wait for the police to come and pick them up, not much time, though. Are you sure you can do this?" Eric asked, not for the first time.

"Yes," I said immediately. I'd do anything to make it all stop.

Eric led me down the hall again, to an area reserved for a few jail cells. They didn't have bars, like the kind you see on TV. They had sturdy steel doors with a small window. Obviously these cells were meant for temporary containment and not as prison cells. It also meant that I could easily hide behind the door and listen to the brain behind it. Eric never left my side during this process, and was content with letting me hold his hand, even if sometimes I felt like I was crushing it because I'd held on so hard.

Between images and the actual words I gathered from the two people (the woman went by the name Missy, the man was Greg), I was able to put together a good enough picture of what was going on. Missy and Greg had indeed been members of the Fellowship, and they were under no certain orders to get admitted onto the base. They weren't the only ones, but I got the names of others that may have tried to infiltrate Barksdale, plus brief glimpses of their faces. As to the method that they used, that had been left strictly up to them. Something about Greg's thinking made me believe that they thought Joe and Mandy had been shifters, or had affiliated with shifters. I'd known both of them my whole life, and other than going to Merlotte's once in a while, I don't think they knew any shifters, but I couldn't tell for sure if they were both fully human. Even if they hadn't been, I knew them. Mandy's older brother had played football with Jason. I knew her whole family. Our grandfathers had gone to school together, not that it meant anything. In other words, they were good people, people who stayed in town and chose to raise their kids there. I couldn't wrap my head around the killing until my name graced Missy's brain.

I tensed immediately and tried to tune in. Her brain was on a loop for all of a few seconds, as if she was trying to remember something. People tend to do that when they're trying to recall something. My name made it through her mind over and over, but she couldn't seem to remember what it was that I did, or what her "pastor" had said about me. But somebody in the Fellowship _did_ know me and knew what I could do. I wished I could have steered her thoughts, but they shifted to whatever the latest sermon from the Fellowship had been. While I was at it, I got the location of where they'd held their meeting. Missy had remembered when she'd arrived at the large house and what she had said to gain entrance. I was sorry to see that I knew the house well, and also the woman who had opened the door: Portia Bellefleur, and the house (the mansion) was Belle Rive, the Bellefleur's residence. I was actually very saddened to learn that. Old Mrs. Bellefleur, Portia's grandmother, had been a friend of Gran's. If she knew who had been responsible for Gran's death she wouldn't let the Fellowship hold meetings in her house, that's for sure.

But that was the problem: nobody knew for sure what had happened in those prisons, which were nothing better than concentration camps. Even after the prisoners had either escaped or been released, the Fellowship's followers weren't likely to believe the accounts, and people who believed weren't likely to stand and shout it from the rooftops for fear of retaliation. I shook my head at the hopelessness of it all.

It was easy to throw my lot with the vampires because they hadn't harmed me, but I could understand why it would be difficult for the rest of the world. Vampires ate people while having sex with them. That was something our (still Puritan) country was not ready to accept with open arms. It was okay to kill innocents, but sex between consenting people was still taboo.

"I'm done," I said, hearing several footsteps approaching the area. A quick scan of the approaching brains told me they were police, and, thankfully, they were disgusted by what Missy and Greg had done. There were still honest people in the world, people who did not take pleasure in carnage and who truly believed in order.

Eric guided me back to his office, and Amelia met us there together with Pam and Bill. I sat down at Eric's desk, quickly putting everything from my brain onto paper. I couldn't allow myself to forget a single detail. Eric looked over my shoulder, and the rest of the gang remained quiet while I worked furiously. Finally, when I was done, I sagged into the chair and allowed myself to close my eyes. I tried my best not to think about anything at all, and when the bad images entered my brain I tried my best to push them aside by making mental lists of things that I needed to do.

"Do you think you can do it?" Eric asked, and for a moment I thought I'd missed him talking to me. But it was Amelia who answered.

"I sure can. It's a simple enough spell to make people trust me," Amelia said. I opened my eyes to see she was reading my notes.

"You can't let her go by herself," I interjected.

"Don't worry, Sookie. They'll never know what I'm up to. I'll be completely safe," she waved me off as if I were nothing more than an obnoxious fly.

"I _can_ believe the Bellefleurs are involved in this. They've always been shifty creatures," Bill said with disdain.

I frowned. "You know them?"

Bill made a huffing sound of disgust. "I know enough about the Bellefleurs to know they cannot be trusted." That closed the subject for Bill.

"Sookie says they have bi-weekly meetings. I'll go to the one tomorrow, there's no sense in waiting. Sookie, I'll need your help tomorrow with the spell, is that okay?" Amelia asked, not wanting to mess my plans with Eric for the night.

I nodded and closed my eyes again. I remembered the first time that Amelia told me she was a witch, not just Wiccan. It had been right after the vampires' great revelation. How she had kept such a huge secret from me was surprising in its own right. She actually bewitched herself to not be able to think about her witchcraft in my presence. When she saw me taking it all in stride, she felt really stupid for not telling me about it all those years she'd been practicing and studying. I didn't blame her, I understood. She thought of me as a good Christian girl, whose boundaries she had already tested when she explained to me she was Wiccan and worshipped gods different than mine. But I had never been one to judge or cast doubt. You can only have faith in what you believe. As long as it doesn't hurt me or the ones I love, we're okay. That was the reason why what the Fellowship was doing was so atrocious. They were using my God to justify their acts.

"Dear one?" Eric shook me gently. I hadn't fallen asleep. I had sort of drifted in and out of consciousness. When I opened my eyes I found myself looking straight into Eric's brilliant blue ones. "Time to go home?"

"Okay," I said, because I didn't have it in me to argue anymore. He pulled me to stand and we walked slowly, hand in hand, to his truck. The poor Explorer was sounding like it needed some kind of expensive repair. Knowing my cars, I would have said it needed a new manifold. I told Eric as much as we drove home.

"I know. I'll probably fix it and buy a new one, keep this one for the trunk space," he smiled wide at the talk of cars. "Did I ever tell you I used to have a Corvette? It was red."

"No, you didn't say," I said, grateful to be talking about something more interesting than all the bad things around us.

"I think you would have enjoyed it. I might get another, but I don't have the patience to wait for it to be built. I'll just get one from the dealer."

"A yellow one, this time?"

"Perhaps silver," he wiggled his eyebrows. That would be interesting: a vampire in a silver-colored vehicle. Pam's Camry was blue, and Bill's Cadillac was black. I looked up at Eric and he seemed pensive. "I think I'll rummage through inventories online and see what's available."

"You really mean it, don't you? You really are going to buy another Corvette?" I asked, not believing that buying a car would be such an easy decision to make.

"Yes I am. I loved that car," he said.

Meanwhile my exhausted brain had latched onto something completely different. Eric had finally used the L word to refer to something. He seemed to understand the concept, but he had taken me aback earlier that evening when he asked what I'd been feeling. I'd been afraid to answer. He didn't know what my feeling was, and I just couldn't see myself spelling it out for him.

I closed my eyes again and examined his mind. It wasn't exactly his mind, but I could see colors now instead of a void where his mind should be. Right at that moment his mind was blue, content. I'd had to name each color as they showed themselves. His ire or rage was a bright red. I also knew he was a master of his emotions. I'd seen his anger flare red but it didn't stay there for very long. It was as if he'd stomped it down and his mind had become a void again. This type of telepathy didn't bother me. It was only colors, feelings, nothing more. I had been startled to see it, though, that's for sure. But I still didn't know what he was thinking. And how had _he_ known what I was thinking? I'd just felt an overwhelming urge to tell him more about me, and only afterwards did he tell me that he'd been able to read my mind. He'd looked as if I'd hit him upside the head, actually.

"Sweetheart?" I heard his soft voice call to me. I hadn't fallen asleep, but I was close.

"Sorry. Are we home?" I said, blinking the sleep out of my eyes.

"Yes we are," he said from the driver's side, and in a blink he was opening my door. We were in the garage. I really had been about to fall asleep.

I turned in my seat at the same time that Eric moved forward. His body ended up between my legs, while he moved his hands to my waist, to pull me to him. I could feel the large bulge inside his jeans that told me he wanted me. His lips were saying the same thing as they started a slow exploration of my neck. I gave myself to him, to his kisses and his desire. He was the only one who could make me forget all the bad and replace it with the good.

"I want you, Sookie," he whispered in my ear before licking and sucking my earlobe, making my skin erupt in goose bumps and my own desire match his.

"Yes," I said, because my mouth would have confused anything else I'd tried to say and would have let escape an "I love you." I just wasn't ready for that.

Eric's hands started undoing my jeans, tugging and bringing them down past my ankles. I was naked from the waist down while his mouth descended on mine, his tongue searching for mine. I held onto the dashboard and the seat when he brought my hips up to meet his. He entered me with a loud growl, and the feeling was out of this world. He hooked my knees over his arms going fast, then trying to slow down, then going fast again.

"No!" he roared and stopped.

"What?" I asked, disappointed to no end. "Please don't stop," I begged.

"Not. Here. Not like this." I could hear it cost him to say the words. He reached for me, hugging me tight against him, and walked all the way up to my bedroom. I held on tight, enjoying the feeling of having him inside me as we made our way upstairs.

Eric sat on my bed and scooted all the way back, sitting against the headboard while I still straddled him. I had to rearrange my legs so I could kneel over him. "This is better," he said, caressing my face and letting me pick our rhythm. I let my own hands roam over his face, his neck, his hair, savoring the feel of him under my fingertips. Just like our first night, when I had first given him pleasure, he held my face so I would look into his eyes.

"Make love to me, Sookie. Only you know how," he said. God! If he only knew. I didn't know any other way to have sex with him. We were still wearing our shirts so I tugged and took his off, then he did me the favor and took mine off, burying his face in the valley between my breasts. I took off my bra this time, fearing he would tear another one. He wrapped his arms around me and his mouth around one of my breasts. I cried out as his fangs punctured the tender skin. That's when his feelings became a kaleidoscope of colors, when he tasted my blood.

"Mmm…" he moaned, at the same time that his whole body vibrated with a sustained growl. I moved faster over him, digging my nails into his shoulders when that wonderful feeling of ecstasy started making its way through my body.

My mind chanted _I love you, I love you_, while my mouth kept repeating his name. "Eric, Eric…" I panted, not knowing what to do anymore, moving faster and faster over him, listening as our bodies met over and over.

"Come on, darling, you can do it. Come for me, Sookie," Eric said within a growl, and I had to. I had to obey. I let go of his shoulders, my whole body rippling with pleasure. He held me tight against him, continuing the motion because I certainly couldn't.

"Oh! Sookie! Sookie! SOOKIE!" he said my name when it was his turn. He threw his head back as he spilled himself inside me. I collapsed against him, completely spent and sated. Eric actually breathed, so it didn't feel as odd to lie on his cool pulse-less body. I wondered why he did it, why he felt the need to breathe, but couldn't muster the question.

"What are you feeling right this second?" he asked in a soft voice, running his fingers over my bare skin. He'd learned that from me. That's how I liked to touch him.

"I'm feeling happy and sated," I answered.

"But you feel this way all the time, not just after we make love," he argued.

I looked up and looked into his eyes. Could I do it? Could I let him see me, all of me? Lay my soul bare? "I'm afraid," I said finally.

"Afraid of me?" he asked, his gaze turning tender with a feeling of his own.

"No, not really. I'm afraid you don't feel the same way and…" I stopped talking. His blue mind had turned to a deep crimson, something different than the bright red of his rage. I hadn't seen it until now. "What are you feeling right now?" I asked him, turning it on him.

He was quiet for a moment, but his eyes never left mine. "I feel like I want to keep you forever. I feel like any moment without you is wasted."

I gathered my courage. "That's how I feel about you," I said, and left it at that. If my instincts were right and that deep crimson feeling was his love, then eventually he'd say it and I could say it as well.

Why did I never learn? Didn't I know by now that things don't always turn out the way you planned? Didn't I realize that every moment is precious and should be seized and cherished? I should have told him that I loved him from the moment I felt it. It just goes to show that I suck at setting my priorities straight.

**TBC**

**Quick A/N: The title is from Sarah McLachlan's song "I Love You," one of my all-time faves.**

**Another A/N: Don't forget to set me on "Author Alert." I'll be entering the _Dead After Dead Reckoning_ contest and I'll be posting my entry soon. Those of you who've read the new book shouldn't miss my version of what happens next. :-)**


	26. I Find What Lies Beneath

**A/N: **Thank you to all my readers who migrated over to read my entry to the "Dead After Dead Reckoning" Contest. If you haven't done so yet (and would like to), the story is on my profile, or you can follow this link to the contest (just delete the spaces): http : / / www . Fanfiction . net / u / 2890449 /

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**I FIND WHAT LIES BENEATH**

Eric moved us so that I was draped on top of him and we were locked in an embrace. We had a little bit longer together before he had to leave me for the day. I wasn't sleepy anymore. No doubt I would be able to sleep as soon as I knew he was out for the day, but for now I wanted to just stay exactly where I was. My head was on Eric's silent chest, I had one leg over his waist, and he had both arms around me. His mind was cycling through several different colors: the deep crimson, blue, purple and once in a while a flash of bright white. I wondered what it meant, but not enough to ask out loud.

I pulled myself up a little to kiss his jaw. He looked down and claimed my next kiss on his lips. I pushed up a little farther as he moved his hand down my naked back to my thigh, caressing my bottom on his way there. It didn't take very long at all and he switched places with me. He was ready again, his cool length seeking entrance, moving his hips against me in desire.

"I can't get enough of you," he said, kissing my neck, letting his mouth roam and make a circuit, first around my shoulders, then around my face. "I want you again, Sookie. Please say yes, please darling. My beautiful lover," he whispered the last words looking into my eyes, where his circuit of kisses had led him.

"Yes, I want you too," I said, feeling empty without him. He moved slightly away, but his body sought mine and when he got close again his length found my entrance easily, without guidance from him. He sighed as he glided inside me. Every time we came together he did that, as if he'd been aching and I was his soothing balm. In truth, that's how I felt too. He filled me completely, in more ways than just physical. The coming together of our bodies was a corporeal interpretation of what I experienced in my mind when we made love. Would he, could he, ever understand?

"So beautiful, so beautiful," he whispered looking into my eyes. I felt my skin flush and I got so hot I thought I would ignite. His cool body was not enough to lower my temperature. As if he'd read my mind, he blew his sweet breath over my chest at the same time as my skin erupted with tiny beads of sweat. All the while he'd moved slowly inside me, savoring my body.

He began moving faster, and I met his hips to feel him deeper, losing my breath but holding him tight. Now I was getting chills as the new feeling of rapture swept through me, bringing me closer to that promised land of ecstasy. I offered Eric my neck because he hadn't taken more than a few drops at my breast, and I wanted him to bite. I felt his fangs graze my skin and the anticipation of what was coming next made me burst underneath him. Just as I was in the middle of my ecstasy, I was thrown into a rainbow of colors. My mind was full of Eric. I got lost in him, relished this new sensation for as long as it lasted. The rainbow gave way to the deep crimson, and I felt like I was wrapped in a blanket of comfort, where nothing bad could touch me. Instead of yelling out in pleasure, I sighed with it.

I came back slowly, wondering what had just happened. I was still inside Eric's mind, or he was inside mine. It didn't bother me, on the contrary. I liked it. Maybe it was part of being bonded. I wondered if he could hear me too, so I thought of a very specific question. _Can you read my mind?_

"Yes. You seem to be at peace," he answered out loud. I couldn't read his mind like a human's, but I was definitely reading it, not just sensing it. And he seemed to be able to read mine. He had just answered my question!

"I don't know how I'm doing it," I muttered, thinking.

"And I don't care how. I am happy you can share this with me. Ask me something else," he said, looking at me like a little kid that had just discovered how to do a new trick.

Unfortunately it threw my mind into chaos because there were so many things I wanted to ask, and so many things that would leave me vulnerable if he knew them. It felt so strange to be on the other side of the mind-reading thing.

"Shh… It's okay, Sookie," he tried to calm me, knowing exactly why I was upset. "I know it feels strange but I won't hurt you or think less of you. There is no way that could ever happen. Let's try to close the connection," he said, and got off me to lie on his side. I turned to him.

"I'm not sure how to do this," I said, willing my mind to close. I closed my eyes so I could concentrate better, and sort of pushed against his mind. When that didn't work, I decided to completely shield myself.

Eric let out a sigh. "I can't hear you anymore," he said. I opened my eyes and he looked disappointed, but quickly switched his features and smiled. "Is that better?"

"Yes. I guess it takes some getting used to," I said, not wanting to explain any further. He seemed to understand perfectly well, even if he didn't know the specifics.

"I am so sorry, dearest. I have to go," Eric said caressing my hair and he actually looked sleepy.

"It's okay," I mumbled and kissed him. "I will see you later."

"Please don't go to the Fellowship meeting. Let Amelia handle it," he said and frowned. He knew me well.

"Okay," I said, but I had no intention of letting Amelia go alone. We'd work something out, even if I had to stay outside and hide in the bushes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Absolutely not!" Amelia said when I presented the idea to her. I knew she wouldn't like it.

"Either you do some witchcraft that will allow me to go, or I will wait for you outside the house. I have to listen to them. I have to be there," I said vehemently. She knew I didn't mean that I had to _listen_ with my ears.

"There is something I can do," she admitted, "but Eric will kill me. Do you understand what you're asking? They know who you are!"

"What can you do? Change my appearance?" I asked because that was the only way I saw of going inside the house.

"No, I can't change the way you look, only the way you are perceived. Everyone in that house will see you as someone else… unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Unless they're magical too. If there's a shifter at that meeting, they will see you as you are."

"Why would there be a shifter at that meeting?" I asked frowning. They weren't friends of the Fellowship, where they?

"I'm just thinking of everything. There might be shifters at the meeting doing the same thing we're doing," she pointed out. "You know what? Never mind! I'll do it 'cause you're a stubborn pain in my ass and I know you'll follow through and go there with or without my help. I'd rather have you where I can see you," Amelia said, and started taking things out of her diaper bag, putting everything carefully on the table by the den. "Bring me a small bowl, a kitchen knife, a steak knife, a dinner plate, a Ziploc bag… make that two Ziploc bags now since _you_ wanna come along. Shit." She stopped what she was doing and put her hands on her hips, giving me her best you-are-so-much-trouble look. "If something happens to you, so help me the goddess, I will kill you."

"I understand," I said, putting my hands up in surrender and walking away to get the things she needed from the kitchen. I smiled to myself because I'd just gotten my way.

"And a cup of water!" she called after me.

I watched as Amelia cut, mixed and blended herbs, invoked her gods and goddesses, lit two candles (a purple and a white one), and then recited her incantations. Something started emanating from the two Ziploc bags, which now looked like they were full of illegal drugs meant to be smoked. She gave me one and kept the other.

"This is how it's gonna go down: we'll show up, you won't be Sookie. I'll be Amelia because they already know me and it's better than two strangers appearing at Belle Rive. I'm carrying only the Trust charm. You will have Trust and Perception charms," she said, pointing at my bag.

"So they'll trust you, and they'll trust me too?" I asked, just to get it straight.

"Uh-huh…" she nodded and continued. "It won't do to have you go there and have them thinking you're not trustworthy. So… we both have the Trust charm, you also have the Perception charm to mask your face. They'll still see a blonde with blue eyes, but they won't be able to tell that you're Sookie. You will be highly forgettable."

I should have asked Amelia to concoct something for nerves too. I didn't want to go, but I knew I _had_ to go. I owed it to Joe and Mandy, and Aiden and Emma. I owed it to whoever else the Fellowship had hurt or was planning on hurting. I owed it to myself, to take back control of what they had done to me, whether these were the same people who'd hurt me or not. They were dangerous and needed to be stop. I was the one who could stop them. Amelia could only gather information with her ears. I could gather so much more.

Amelia understood what I wanted to do so we talked strategy on our way there. She knew I had a tendency to zone out of conversations when I was listening to someone's mind. She would have to guide me, or interrupt mentally (since she was such a good broadcaster) if I needed to pay attention. She could also feed me answers if somebody asked me a question and I didn't notice. This wasn't exactly new to us, but the stakes were considerably higher. We could not afford to make mistakes, although the Trust charms would make things go in our favor.

We arrived at almost six, when it was still daylight. From what I'd gathered, the meetings were over before the sun had fully set. At this time of year the sunset would occur at half past eight. The meeting wouldn't last more than a couple of hours. The next two hours would prove to be interminable.

I took several deep breaths while we were still inside the car, and thought of Eric. These people hated Eric, not him personally, but his whole race. But if I could fill my heart with rage to get through this, then that's what I was going to do. So I imagined one of them wanting to hurt my Eric. I was still nervous, but the rage reinforced my purpose. I was a strong woman. I could no longer defend Joe and Mandy, but I could avenge them. I was able to keep the great sadness away and the trembling in my stomach to a minimum.

"Ready?" Amelia asked and I nodded. We left Pam's car parked on the street and walked up the semi-circular driveway full of cars. We'd been planning on leaving the car out on the street anyway, but the fact that the driveway was full worked in our favor. Nobody would be suspicious about not seeing our car there. Thankfully Pam's car was devoid of anything that would peg it as a "vampire car." We would have brought Eric's truck, but it really needed a trip to the repair shop, not a long round trip from Shreveport to Bon Temps.

The large double doors that made up the front entrance of the Belle Rive mansion, two massive wooden ones, looked like they had seen better days. In fact, the whole house needed a new coat of paint, and some of the fancy columns were suffering from some kind of rotting where they met the porch. From the street the house still looked monumental. Up close it just looked like an old lady in need of cosmetic surgery. Amelia rang the doorbell the way I told her, and was ready to give the secret code. If anybody asked we were going to say that Greg had given it to us a day or two before. From what I'd read in his mind it made more sense for him to have given it to us than Missy. I was hoping the Trust charms were operating at their best…

Portia Bellefleur opened the door. There were several people inside the house, but everyone was very quiet. She looked at us with a little suspicion in her eyes. "Amelia Broadway? Is that you?" she asked, even though she knew Amelia perfectly well. Everyone in Bon Temps knew each other, and Portia had gone to school only one year ahead of us.

"Yes it's me," Amelia answered and cleared her throat. She was supposed to say the line right away, but had gotten sidetracked by Portia's question. Amelia proceeded without wasting any more time, "Nothing happens save what is permitted by God."

Portia nodded solemnly and stood aside, letting us in. "Who is your friend?" she asked, not knowing me at all. The Perception charm was working its wonders because Portia knew me well enough to envy me, or, at least, that's what I'd gathered from her thoughts every time she'd gone to Merlotte's for lunch. She envied me the looks of lust that came my way from the general male population. As far as I was concerned, she could have them.

"This is Pamela. We met in Shreveport. We work together," she said. I'd adopted Pam's name because Amelia and I were of the mind that if someone were to check out Pam's car, then they would know that Pam (me) was inside the house.

Portia didn't bat an eyelash, trusting in me and in Amelia wholeheartedly. She smiled a little awkwardly (a hostess she was not) and showed us to a great big room where everybody was gathered and sitting. Everyone was quiet, which was unusual, I thought. It felt like we were at church. Amelia and I were unable to sit together, but our plan would not be derailed by this little hiccup. Since nobody in the room was trying to establish conversations, then I was in no danger of giving myself away.

I scanned the room, first with my eyes then with my mind. Old Mrs. Bellefleur was there, but she looked frail. I quick peek into her brain told me she was more than frail. I'd met one of Gran's friends who had Alzheimer's disease, and her brain had been like Swiss cheese. That's what Mrs. Bellefleur's brain reminded me of. Andy Bellefleur wasn't there, but I wasn't sure if it was because he disapproved or he was working. Nobody's brain had anything to say about the matter. I focused on the man standing in front of the large marble fireplace. His name was Tim. He was a very proud man. He was proud of his humanity, the color of his skin, the house he lived in, his town, his Jaguar XJS… What the hell? He started talking, but I focused on the mind, giving words to the images that flowed from his to mine.

_They must find the telepath Sookie Stackhouse. We can make her work for us, to tell apart the demons from the humans. Missy and Greg were captured by the fallen angels. They were careless and deserved to be punished. Probably they let the kids watch as they killed their shifter parents, and one of the kids talked. That's how they got caught. Now there are two shifter kids running around God knows where. They should have killed the whole family._

I was brought back and away by the pain in my palms. I'd dug my nails into my hands trying my darnedest to keep my cool. I took a deep breath. God (and Amelia) only knew what that man was saying out loud, but his mental chatter made him fit to spend an eternity in hell.

_Fallen angels came to Earth, to drink our life, to drain us. They are not of God, they are evil. They seek to make us theirs by bonding us to them, like Dracula did with Renfield, a shell of a human, a blood bag. That's all we are. _

It took me a moment to realize that he was giving the sermon for the night therefore everything going through his mind was coming out of his mouth. I put up my shields and listened.

"These _vamps_," Tim said the word with contempt, "this is what they do! They will glamour a human, suck their blood and fornicate with the human, then give the human their blood, _vampire_ blood, EVIL blood to make the human a slave, someone they can have at their beck and call. One simple command and the human has no choice but to obey. The vampire is hungry," Tim snapped his fingers, "there's their human. The vampire wants sex," he snapped his fingers again, "there's their human. There is no going back. The human has no life left, no free will. He or she belongs to the vampire in question until that vampire one day discards him or her like so much trash!"

I felt sick. The little bit of food that was still in my stomach from lunch was threatening to make the trip back up. Eric had given me his blood to form the bond, but… but he'd said it was because he was mine. He said he was mine, and I said I was his. I'd done this. I'd surrendered my free will to Eric so I could be his meal forever. He was never going to let me go until he drained me dry. That crimson feeling was not his love, like I'd imagined. It was his hunger. It was his lust. He'd used me. He knew with absolute clarity that I'd fallen in love with him, and he took advantage of that, taking my virginity, saying we were making love. He was marking his territory! I was his human!

**TBC**

**A/N: And what does Rebelina like more than almost anything else in the world (except for ice cream)? CLIFFHANGERS! YAY!**


	27. What Have You Done Now?

**A/N:** Y'all got really mad at Sookie, huh? It's okay, she was being her usual Sookie self: stubborn, quick to jump to conclusions before getting all the facts, trusting the wrong people. Typical Sookie.

A lot of my darling readers actually read both AAD and WiaV, but for the few who don't read AAD and didn't read my gush over my new banner for AAD, go to my profile and click on the link (pushy much?). It's beautiful! BlackDeadOrchids made it for me, and it's a video. She did a wonderful job, worthy of admiration. Don't worry if it doesn't make sense because you haven't read the story… the banner is just… words fail! So go now! And then come back. :-)

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**WHAT HAVE YOU DONE NOW?**

"What the hell is wrong with you ? !" I shouted at Sookie. She made us leave the Fellowship meeting early because she felt sick, but I could tell it wasn't physically. "I told you not to come!"

"Eric and I bonded," she spat out and started bawling.

I was silent for a moment, trying to absorb what she had just said. I knew they'd gotten hot and heavy (who didn't? They were all over each other!), but I hadn't realized how serious the relationship was. I recovered as quickly as I could. "So why are you crying?" I asked, because I needed more information. "You don't believe the shit that _Tim _was putting out, do you?"

"I don't know, Amelia! It sounded true enough. Eric and I exchanged blood. Now I can read his mind and he can read mine. We can feel what the other feels. We're bonded, just like Tim said," Sookie was looking madder and madder as she explained.

"You know what, Sookie? You need to grow up a little here. I happen to know what a blood bond is exactly, but I'm not going to tell you. You have to talk to Eric. You love him, don't you?" I was trying to search Sookie's face and drive at the same time.

"I love him, but he doesn't love me," she shook her head. Oh, boy!

"Who said that? Have you been paying attention to the way he is with you? There isn't a single waking moment that he's not thinking about you. If you're not with him, it's 'Sookie this,' and 'Sookie that.' He loves you. I don't know what makes you think he doesn't, other than you being insane which, frankly, is very highly possible."

Sookie remained quiet in her seat, wiping her face every so often. I got lost in my own thoughts, wondering what had made Eric bind her to him, and hoping it was his way of loving her and not the other kind of bond. He seemed too far gone for me to think he only wanted Sookie as food. But why bond with her, though? And why the hell not tell her what he was doing? ! Honestly, that sounded like some type of chicken shit stuff, something any typical male would do. And here I'd thought Eric was better than that.

"They want me," Sookie piped up from her side when we were halfway to Shreveport.

I didn't know what she was talking about. "Wait, what?"

"The Fellowship knows what I can do and they still want to use me to tell humans and shifters apart. I have no choice but to stay with Eric and be his… whatever I am to him," she said, as if staying with Eric was the worst that could happen.

"I need you to cut that shit out until you talk to him about your blood bond. Stop jumping to conclusions!" I yelled at her, trying to make her snap to. I took several deep breaths to calm myself down. It wouldn't do yelling at Sookie who had suffered so much in such a short period of time. She probably didn't know what she was saying. "Look, I know you've been hurt, but Eric didn't do the hurting. He's trying his best. I'm not sure why he chose to be bound to you without explaining…"

"He's bound to me?" Sookie interrupted.

"Yeah! Of course. It goes both ways," I rolled my eyes. Eric had dropped the ball big time.

"He said he was mine…"

"But you didn't believe him," I finished her sentence. "Let's get home and you guys can talk at length."

"Will you stay? While we talk?" Sookie asked, almost sounding afraid of asking the question.

"Yes, honey. Anything you want, whatever you need so you two can clear the air," I said trying my best to take it easy with the girl, and finding it really difficult.

It wasn't nearly dark enough when we got to Eric's house for either of the vampires to be up and about. I took advantage and made something quick for dinner, and tried to get Sookie to eat. She took a couple of bites but stopped eating suddenly. She looked like a dog whose ears had just perked up. I guessed she could sense Eric moving around in his bedroom.

Eric's normally silent footsteps on the stairs sounded more like elephant stomps as he hurried to Sookie's side. His worry was etched on his face. He knew something was wrong, could probably feel Sookie's turmoil. It was horrible to watch, because I could see Sookie's doubt etched on her face, and Eric's grief on his.

"What's wrong? What happened? Are you ill?" he asked Sookie. He looked like a man who didn't know what to do with himself.

I saw Sookie starting to lose it again so I had to intervene. "Sookie wanted to come with me to the Fellowship meeting." Yeah, so I was telling on her, so what? "The man there gave a speech about blood bonds," I explained, and he understood immediately.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sookie sobbed.

"Please let me explain. Please calm down, dear one. I hate to see you cry," Eric said, pulling a hanky from his pocket and moving closer to Sookie, with every intention of dabbing her tears away.

She jumped out of her chair and came to stand on the other side of the counter. She was still crying but now she was mad. "Explain. Now," she said, jabbing a finger on the counter, talking with her body like she did when she was angry.

"I wanted to keep you safe," Eric started, putting his hands up as in surrender before letting them hang at his sides, like a man defeated. "I could only think of two ways. One was to turn you into a vampire and give you the strength to keep yourself safe. The other was to bind you to me so that I would be able to know where you were and if you needed me. I knew you would never forgive me if I turned you against your will, so that only left me with one choice," Eric tried to reason. Had he not learned there was no reasoning with crazy people? He was thinking like a vampire, and making sense, but to Sookie he'd just taken away her freedom.

"Don't you think you should have let me choose to bond with you? What if I don't want it? How do you take it away?" she said and her voice was taking on the shrill quality of someone who was almost completely nuts.

Eric looked as if Sookie had hit him in the balls. "You don't want me?" he asked in a flat voice. She'd hurt him. This was getting bad.

"Sookie…" I warned her because she was about to cross a line.

Before she had a chance to say anything else, Eric's cell phone rang in his pocket. He answered quickly, and his expression didn't change. He said, "We're on our way," hung up, grabbed his keys and turned to Sookie. "This conversation will have to wait. Your brother is in the hospital. We have to go."

Sookie's face blanched. "What happened?" she asked, getting up slowly. I grabbed her because soon she would faint what with all the hoopla.

"Calvin said he was in an accident, but didn't give me specifics, only that he was asking for you," Eric said, turned around and walked away. He was hurt by Sookie's words, and he'd turned all that pain into anger.

Pam rounded the corner from the stairs, looking like she'd gotten dressed in a hurry. I motioned for her to drive and she nodded, joining Eric ahead of us vampire fast. Maybe she could calm him down a bit and drive her car, since Eric's truck was on the fritz.

Eric sat in the front passenger seat of Pam's car, and thankfully she drove. Sookie was in so much distress that I had to hold her tight to stop her from shaking. The whole drive to Minden was silent, but it was the type of charged silence that speaks volumes. I wished Pam would have turned on the radio or something.

At the hospital the situation got even more difficult. Only two people were allowed to go into the emergency room to see Jason. Eric's wish for Sookie to pick him was rolling off him, but she picked me instead. I shrugged apologetically and followed her inside. Hopefully he'd understand that I was trying to fix this.

Jason was worse than we imagined. He'd been traveling home from work and had swerved to avoid hitting a car that had stopped in the middle of the road. The truck's high center of gravity made him lose control, and the truck rolled over and over. Jason, being a bit less stubborn than his sister, had actually been wearing his seatbelt. He had still suffered a great deal of damage, and I wasn't even sure what the doctors were saying. Sookie was probably completely gone, so I made a better effort to listen.

"He has a broken pelvis and right upper thigh. The seatbelt caused several bruised ribs. We did X-rays and found nothing else broken, but we'll have to do an MRI now that he's more stable to make sure there is no internal bleeding," the doctor, a tall brunette woman, said.

"Do you suspect it?" I asked, talking about the internal bleeding.

"We do. His blood pressure is going up and down and we can't seem to find any reason for its sudden drop," she said and was joined by another doctor and two nurses. They were getting ready to take Jason to the MRI. "We sedated him because he was in a lot of pain," the doctor turned to Sookie. "Do you know if your brother is allergic to any medications? That could explain his drop in blood pressure."

"No, he's not allergic to anything," Sookie answered like a robot. She was staring at Jason with her eyes wide open because she didn't want to cry.

They left us filling out paperwork while they took Jason for more tests. I filled out the forms because Sookie was shaking too bad. When I was done I glanced over at Sookie sitting next to me. She was holding her face in her hands, looking completely lost and dejected. She'd had a bad night all around.

"Do you want Eric here?" I asked, testing the waters.

"No." Her answered was muffled.

"He's worried about you. He loves you…"

"He doesn't love me! Stop saying that!" Sookie said, stubborn as ever.

"Whatever, Sookie. You hurt him when you told him you didn't want the bond. He made himself vulnerable to be with you and to keep you safe, and now you done threw it in his face. How would you feel?"

"I tell you how I feel," she said, looking up from her hands and giving me a scathing look. "I feel betrayed. He might as well have turned me. It's the same kind of backstabbing, underhanded bullshit, but in a different package."

"You don't really believe that?" I said. It came out as a question because her change of heart had been so… thorough.

Sookie was silent for a long time. I wasn't sure what she was doing but she seemed to be concentrating. Finally she spoke, and her voice came out low but not exactly calm. "I don't know what to believe. Right now I have to focus on Jason and my problems with Eric are just gonna have to wait. Jason's gonna need a lot of help until he heals," she said and her voice broke.

"I understand about Jason. You should talk to Eric and let him know what's happening. He deserves that, at least. He's been nothing but good to you. He gave you everything when you had nothing. No matter what he did and what you're thinking it means, he cares about you a whole lot. You owe him an explanation," I said and stood up. "I'm gonna go trade places with him, and you two are gonna talk."

I left before Sookie could say anything and went to get Eric. I found him and Pam sitting in the waiting room talking in hushed voices. They both looked up expectantly and listened to the news about Jason.

"Sookie is waiting for you," I said to Eric. His eyes widened a little. He thought everything was okay between them. I had to nip that in the bud. "I'm sorry, Eric. She's still very upset, but at the very least she will explain her side."

If Sookie didn't see then she was blind. That man had regret in his heart, as well as the love he felt for her. He'd never wanted her as food, I could tell that right away. He didn't waste any time and went to join Sookie inside the emergency room.

"Eric told me what happened," Pam said. She seemed sad.

"I've been trying to talk sense into Sookie, but she's not… there," I tapped my temple. "She's been hurt, and she doesn't want Eric to hurt her too, so she's lashing out and striking first. I'm not saying it makes sense, I just think she needs time. She figures if one day Eric will leave her, then she'd rather take control and leave him first."

"Eric doesn't wish to leave her. Ever," Pam was clear about that.

"I know that, and you know that, and I've certainly been trying to get Sookie to see that, but it's difficult for her to understand a love like that because she's never had it. I don't know what to do," I confessed, shaking my head. Pam grabbed my hand and squeezed it in comfort.

"You've done a lot, it seems," she said and remained silent for a long moment. "What did you find at the Fellowship meeting?" she asked eventually. This was important too.

I told her everything and hoped that they wouldn't get mad enough at Sookie to withdraw their protection. She was as vulnerable as ever. Pam put my fears to rest.

"We'll take care of her. Besides, it's the only way she'll understand what she means to Eric," Pam said, putting her arm around my shoulder.

Now there was nothing for us to do but wait.

**TBC**


	28. Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word

**A/N: **Quick update. Not that I wanna take any of you away from y'all's other favorite fics, but… there were a lot of angry readers who wanted to knock some sense into Sookie.

This chapter is dedicated to my friend and boss, who had a similar accident and injuries as Jason, but isn't a shifter who can heal really fast… though I'm sure she wishes she was a werehorse.

*If anybody gets a second alert for this chapter, don't worry. I had to fix something. Whoopsies and thanks, AuntieL!*

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**SORRY SEEMS TO BE THE HARDEST WORD**

Eric came in the room while I was still waiting for the doctors to bring back Jason. I didn't hear him come in, and he didn't touch me or speak. The only way I knew he was there was the way his feelings went from a dull gray to deep crimson then slowly melted back to gray. Earlier he had been angry with me, that bright red feeling that looked so much like a fire ant. But then the red dulled, and like rain on a window it turned to gray.

I sat curled up, my feet up on the chair and my forehead on my knees. Amelia's words played over and over in my head like a broken record. Eric gave me everything when I had nothing. Then my own words, my own feelings towards him: he was my savior, my knight. I knew that I had to talk to him. I had to at least trust that he cared for me. I had to, or I would be lost again. I couldn't believe he loved me; that was too much to hope for. But he cared. If I could believe that, then I could make it through this.

"I'm sorry," I said. They were the first words that I wanted him to hear. It came out muffled, and it cost me to say it, but I felt better once the words left me. Trouble was, I wasn't sure what I should be sorry about. I never said I didn't want Eric, but that's how he had interpreted my words. Amelia said I'd hurt him, and if I did I hadn't meant to. I was sorry about that, for sure. Maybe. Truth was he'd hurt me first.

"I'm sorry too," he said. His voice was much closer than I thought. I turned my head and his face was only inches away from mine, his skin whiter than ever, and his eyes rimmed with red. "What will it take for you to forgive me? I swear I did not mean to hurt you, Sookie." Eric's feelings were jumbled for a moment. I wasn't sure what to make of them until they settled back to gray, with a twisty ribbon of crimson running through them.

"I guess you have to tell me more about what a blood bond is," I started and swallowed. The next part would hurt for sure. "And I also need some time. My brother is going to need me…" my voice drifted, remembering how bruised and battered Jason looked. I couldn't stop the tears then.

Eric picked me up and sat me on his lap. I cried into his shirt and clung to him, like a defective dryer sheet. He did care about me. He didn't need to come into this room knowing I'd be upset, but he had. He didn't need to ask me to forgive him, but he had. He didn't need to give me comfort, but there he was holding me tight against him letting me cry and getting his shirt wet. He rocked me and caressed my hair, and skipped all the meaningless things people say when a loved one is ill: "he'll get better soon," and "he's strong, he'll be just fine." Eric didn't say anything stupid like that. He didn't say anything at all.

"Miss Stackhouse," I heard someone call my name. I looked up. It was one of the doctors that had taken Jason, the tall brunette. "Jason does seem to have some damage to a major blood vessel, so we're taking him to surgery right now to repair it. These type of operations can take anywhere from two to three hours, sometimes more. We're moving him to the third floor, so you can go there to wait for him. As soon as he's out of surgery we'll come get you," she said and put her hand on my bare arm to comfort me. Her thoughts were cluttered with a lot of medical jargon, but I caught that Jason was not doing well at all. His aorta had suffered a small rupture and they had to repair it. The doctor was seeing the procedure in her mind, as they made an incision through the back instead of the chest. I closed my eyes willing my shields to pop up, but my mental state didn't allow for that sort of strain.

Instead, Eric took the woman's hand and moved it away from me. He did it as politely as he could. "Thank you," he said to the doctor, dismissing her. "Come on, Sookie. We'll wait for him upstairs."

"You don't have to stay if you don't want to," I said, accepting his handkerchief.

"I want to and I have to," he said brusquely. His tone closed the subject, like he wouldn't have listened to any of my arguments, if I'd had any. In a way I was glad he did that. It gave my brain a sort of respite: Eric was in charge. Period. I could relax and focus on Jason.

Pam, Amelia, Eric and I made our way up to the third floor. The receptionist took my name and my brother's name, and told me that she would let me know as soon as he was out of surgery. The waiting room was empty except for us. Eric hadn't let go of my hand since we'd left the emergency room, so he simply pulled me to an empty sofa and made sure I was snuggled against him. He really was not going to let me go. Amelia shot me a quick smile before getting up and saying she was going to grab me something to drink. Pam went with her and Eric and I were left alone.

"Do you want to talk?" he asked in a very quiet voice. He was feeling… cautious. Something short of apprehensive, but not quite there. Like Amelia, he was throwing the question out there to see what my response would be.

"You always told me the truth," I said, because that was what had hurt me the most. He had answered all my questions truthfully until that night I asked him about the bond. He hadn't lied, exactly, but neither had he told me the truth. I searched his eyes while he spoke.

"Yes, Sookie, I know and I'm sorry. I should have told you about forming a blood bond before I had you drink my blood. The first time was to save your life, but the times afterwards I…" he stopped talking and looked away. "I was selfish."

"Why?" I asked immediately. My heart wanted to leap for joy and I tried to make it stop. Eric wasn't about to tell me he loved me, was he? He wasn't about to say that his love made him bond with me… right?

"I wanted to be with you, to keep you safe and by my side. I don't want to be without you. You asked me to be yours, and you have to believe me that I am yours, Sookie. But in the process I made you mine too. I fooled myself into thinking that you wanted this and therefore you would not resent it. I see I was mistaken. We can remove the bond if you like," Eric said the last sentence as if he was forcing the words out. He took a deep breath before speaking again. "A long time ago vampires had the need of bonding a human to themselves, for food and protection during the day. As society advanced, the need for a blood bonded human became obsolete. There was a lot of risk associated with it because the vampire's existence was tied to the human's life irrevocably. Only a witch like your friend Amelia can undo the bond. Otherwise you have to wait years and neither can ingest the other's blood through all that time for the bond to fade."

He gave me a minute to absorb what he was saying. _The vampire's existence was tied to the human's life irrevocably._ He'd already told me this before, but only now did I get the magnitude of his statement. The Fellowship idiot had only gotten half the story right. My eyes widened in shock and a little bit of fear. No wonder we had to know the other's feelings, because if one of us was in danger then we would _both_ be in danger. I shook my head in disbelief. "Why?" I asked again, trying in vain to elicit those three simple words from his mouth. I didn't think he understood why he'd done it. It wasn't selfishness.

Eric ran his fingers over my face, following the lines with his eyes. The spark was returning to them. The gray of his feelings was lifting like fog in the sun. The deep crimson was now pulsating with flashes of bright white light. Eric's mind was beautiful to me, just like him. He was coming to the realization, I could see it in his eyes; I could see it in his mind, the colors meshing and sparkling, swirling… He kissed me softly, a ghost of a kiss that felt like lightning through my body.

"I'm so happy you made up!" Amelia interrupted. At that moment I thought I might kill her and make it look like an accident. I pulled away from Eric to shoot her the vilest look I could muster, and the bitch was grinning ear to ear, no shame and no apology. To make matters worse, Pam was doing the same thing to Eric! Both of them, witches! "Brought you coffee," Amelia said, handing me the steaming cup.

"Thank you," I said through gritted teeth. Later she would get told. The telling off would have to wait because Calvin Norris walked into the waiting room, walking purposefully towards me.

Immediately I felt anxious. The last time I'd seen him in human form he'd been naked and waiting to change at the full moon while we were still in prison. The images flooded my mind and I was mortified as well as nervous. He stood near me with a worried expression then squatted beside me to take my hand.

"I'm sorry I had to run and leave Jason alone. I came back as soon as I could," said Calvin. "How is he? Why is he in surgery?"

I explained everything to Calvin, even the things that the doctor hadn't explained out loud. The more I explained the more I descended into that infinite sadness, even though I was trying really hard not to do that. Jason would need me, and he would need me strong of mind and body. My body was as healthy as ever… but my mind… I had to keep it together for Jason's sake.

"I went to talk to Alcee Beck. He's handling the investigation into this accident. Only Jason suffered injuries. The other driver didn't but he should have. It's all very strange so he's looking into it and keeping me informed," Calvin said. All the while I couldn't stop his thoughts from transferring: hazy pictures of Jason's truck, now nothing but a pile of crushed metal; images of him and Alcee talking; Calvin was pleased that it had been Alcee who'd been assigned the case because he didn't trust Andy Bellefleur, what with the Fellowship meetings taking place at his house and all. Amelia had been right: the shifters were well-aware of what the Fellowship was doing in Bon Temps.

"Does anybody know that Jason is going to be…?" I started my question but didn't finish. I wondered if anybody was aware that Jason was now a shifter.

Calvin shook his head. "I don't think so, dear, but he's been hanging out with us more often. They might just think he's a sympathizer. That's if what you're thinking is true." Calvin didn't need to read my mind to know what I was thinking. I was thinking foul play just like he was, just like Alcee Beck was.

We sat in silence from then on, waiting on news about Jason while I recited every prayer I knew and some I made up for Jason to come out of this okay. About two hours into the surgery we were joined by Alcide Herveaux, another familiar face from prison. I'd known Calvin Norris for many years from the times he visited Merlotte's, but I knew Alcide strictly from prison. I felt the same kind of anxiety again. He had been a magnificent man naked, and I was feeling ashamed of having seen him that way, as well as having been the one to put him in jail.

"Calvin, Sheriff, Sookie," he nodded at each of us, acknowledging that Eric was the sheriff of the area. Again I felt guilty that he was spending his night with me instead of tending to business, but he'd closed that subject pretty forcefully earlier, and I didn't want to revisit it.

"What brings you here Herveaux?" Eric asked. He was tense. I wondered if he trusted the Were.

"I called him, Sheriff. Alcide was packmaster in Shreveport, and I asked him to look into Jason's accident," Calvin said. I didn't miss the part where Calvin said that Alcide _was_ packmaster, and seemed to imply that it was no longer the case. Did that mean that it was official and Eric was the head of all supes and humans in the area?

"Sheriff, I sent one of the best people I know to help Alcee Beck. His name is Tray Dawson, and he used to be a cop in Shreveport before he opened a bike shop. He knows all the ins and outs, and the humans still think he's human because he's not affiliated with a pack. Alcee and Tray lost the trail of the person who caused Jason's accident, but we fear it has to do with the fact that he's Sookie's brother. We know the Fellowship still wants to use her, and we know they're looking for her," Alcide said in a very low whisper that I was barely able to catch. But I did catch it, and my heart sank into my stomach. So it wasn't just that demented _Tim_ person that spoke at the meeting. The whole Fellowship of the Sun was after me.

"Thank you, Alcide. You've helped me a lot with that information," Eric said. He was just as tense as before, but there was a definite timbre of determination in his voice. I wasn't sure what decision he'd taken, but his feelings were back to bright red.

Eric and Alcide exchanged phone numbers while Amelia and I headed for the ladies'. It was getting late and Eric and Pam would have to leave in a few hours.

"I have to do a protection spell on you," Amelia mused, looking at herself in the mirror after washing her hands. She was fixing her hair. "You need to be safeguarded all day as well as all night. I'll think of something, maybe charm a necklace or a watch."

I finished washing my hands, listening to everything, analyzing everything, but saying nothing. There wasn't much to say. Amelia was right, I needed protection. Eric and Pam could only protect me at night. Jason now needed protection too because of me. They hurt him _again_ because they wanted to get to me. I was sure of it.

Another quiet hour of prayer passed. Eric took me to the chapel, knowing I needed it, and remained in the back while I prayed with all my might, kneeling by the candle I'd just turned on. How could God give me a gift that hurt so many, put my Gran in the grave and made Jason a target? Surely my telepathy was a curse. It had brought me nothing but grief, and the only time I could find some kind of enjoyment out of it was when I read Eric's mind. I thought about that too, asking God for guidance: should I ask Amelia to dissolve the bond? Or was this the course my life should take? Was I supposed to be with the man whose mind inside mine made me happy? Or was I meant to suffer the burden of my telepathy? I threw the questions out to God and hoped He'd answer soon.

The doctor came out from surgery at the same time that Eric and I returned to the waiting room. We all waited with bated breath to hear what she had to say.

**TBC**

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**A/N: Raise your hand if you didn't know that there was a cliffie coming up...**

**NEWS: Okay, so this news is all about "Alive After Dark," but so many of you read both of my fics that I'm going to post it here first:**

**1) Mark your calendars! I'll be chatting about AAD (and I know someone already said they'll be asking questions about this fic too) with the Fangreaders on June 28 at 8pm GMT (I think that's 3pm EST). If you'd like to join me visit their website and ask them for a password for the chat room. The website is Fangreaders(dot)blogspot(dot)com. Last time I did it I had a great time.**

**2) I have two new banners for AAD, so I have three total: the Super Bowl ad, and two beautiful static ones. BlackDeadOrchids did an absolutely astonishing job of all three of them, and I'm so happy that she was able to do that for me… I'll talk her into making one for this fic, eventually. Poor girl needs a break!**


	29. I Miss You

**A/N: **Thank you all who reviewed the last chapter. I was able to answer a lot of questions by replying, but I figured the questions are still floating around. So, let's answer some, K?

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**I MISS YOU**

I woke up startled when I heard my name. I realized that Jason was calling me. I got up from my makeshift bed like lightning and went to his side. It was impossible for him to move more than his right arm. His left arm – his whole left side, actually – was in a lot of pain from the incision they'd made on his back to repair his aorta. His right leg was still in traction to let the broken pelvis mend. The only saving grace was the fact that Jason had been bitten by Calvin Norris and he seemed to be mending quicker than a regular human, as quick as a shifter. Calvin had filled me in and given me some amount of hope that Jason wouldn't be in a wheelchair all his life.

The doctor warned that, during the surgery, Jason had stopped receiving blood to his legs, as if there had been a blockage. There was a possibility that the blockage had caused the major nerves to die, and that he would be wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life. I had refused to believe it, and held onto the hope that the doctor had called it "a possibility," and not something that was going to happen for sure.

I put those thoughts aside for now while I tended to my brother. He was thirsty and in pain. I called for a nurse and helped him drink water while we waited. At first they had given him the little pump with morphine, so that if he was in too much pain he could just hit a button, but he'd become incredibly dizzy from the morphine. Apparently this wasn't an uncommon reaction to morphine in some people, and Jason was one of them. So they'd had to switch him to a different pain medicine that had to be injected by a nurse as needed, no pump. I'd lost track of the name of all the medicines they were giving him: one for blood clots, one to keep his stomach acids low, one for blood pressure, the one for pain, a couple of antibiotics… It was too much.

"When was the last time you went home?" Jason asked and winced. I knew he was hurting, but he still found it in him to ask after me. Overprotective, control freak, and darling big brother. That was Jason.

"I haven't been home in three days. Amelia will bring me clothes and toiletries in the morning. I'll make good use of your shower, don't worry," I said, and tried to force a smile. Jason had been put in a private room with its own bathroom with a shower. The room had a large bench next to the windows that converted to a bed. It was uncomfortable, but it would do. Amelia had brought me a blanket and a pillow from my bed at Eric's, and I that was where I'd slept, as much as I could sleep anyway.

"What about what you were doing, helping at the base?" Jason asked. I think he was trying to make conversation to keep from thinking too much about the pain.

"I was clear with Eric. I told him you need me and he agreed," I said, making Eric sound more like my boss than my lover. Truth was that I missed him so much it hurt.

"Sookie…" Jason's tone had a little warning in it, like I was being pigheaded about something. "You can do so much good to so many people by doing your job at the base. Here you're only helping one person."

"The person that matters the most to me," I said adamantly.

"What about Eric? Do you still love him?"

At his question I felt my throat close up. I was barely able to whisper, "Yes," before I became thankful that the room was dark. I could hide the tears that spilled next. I wiped my eyes quickly when the nurse came in. She was part of the night shift, and she'd been very kind to Jason. From peeking into her mind I could tell she liked him. Instead of turning on the main lights, she turned on the bathroom light and let it spill into the room. I thought that was very thoughtful of her.

"Hi, Michele, my angel," Jason said, as smooth with the ladies as ever. This time, however, he meant what he said. Michele was there to give him the drugs that would allow him to rest comfortably. That was worthy of sainthood in Jason's book.

"Hi, Jason. Can you give me a number?" she asked. The nurses that gave him the pain drugs always asked him to put a number on his pain, one being mild and ten being excruciating and about to pass out.

"I'll give it a solid seven, but it's starting to creep up to eight," he answered. Michele noted it on the chart she'd picked up from the bottom of the bed, together with the time and how much medicine she was giving him.

"Do you need to use the bathroom, maybe make the pain a good ten before I give you drugs?" she asked, and I could see a small smile playing on her lips. The whole time I hadn't stopped reading her mind. She really did have a soft spot for Jason, but not in a swoony type of way. It was more like he'd been a good patient, and she didn't get many of those. Add that to the fact that Jason was handsome, even all banged up, and… she liked him.

I made myself scarce while Michele helped Jason relieve himself. I knew he didn't want me there, so I waited outside in the hall. The lights were bright, but the whole hospital was in a kind of downtime. I could detect the nurses' thoughts at their station, there was a doctor making rounds, a few patients were awake, but most were asleep. The phone that Eric had gotten for me vibrated in my pants' pocket and I retrieved it. It was him.

"Hi," I said, feeling my heart do a little dance of joy.

"Hello, dear one. I felt you awake. Is everything alright?" His voice soothed me. He'd been very busy at the base and I hadn't seen him in three nights. I didn't know that missing someone could feel so heartrending. I felt like part of my heart was with him.

"Everything is fine. Jason woke up and needed pain medicine and water, that's all. I'm outside his room now. The nurse is helping him with… something," I finished lamely. I was still a little ashamed of describing human needs to a vampire, though I don't know why: vampires had been human too.

"Are you wearing the watch?" he asked. He'd given Amelia one of his watches to charm for protection. It was huge and expensive. It had also been the one he'd worn every night I'd known him. It was his way of leaving some of him with me. The weight of it halfway up my arm was not a burden: it was comfort.

"Yes," I said, and changed the topic quickly. If we spoke about us any more I'd break down and cry again. "How are things tonight on base?"

"We had a large group of humans come tonight. They no longer want to live in rural areas and are seeking shelter within the base because of the abductions. Thankfully we've had many vampires sent to work here by Sophie-Anne, and they're helping with the placement. Right now we're still trying to figure out who was a resident on base previously so we can return them to their homes. In the meantime we've been using one of the hangars for the people that were displaced," he explained.

"What are you going to do about the abductions?" I asked. I'd thought that problem had been dwindling. Guess I was wrong.

"Do you really want to know?" he asked in a grave voice. Our bond was pulsating with the colors I associated with his anger and determination.

"Yes," I answered simply. Weres had abducted me. Even if I couldn't remember what happened to me, I couldn't forget what Eric had told me about my abduction. Was it really bad of me to want revenge? I didn't think so, not after everything I'd gone through.

Eric explained at length his plan. He was going to hunt them down himself, along with a few of his most trusted vampires. I felt a pang of fear, the same fear that I always felt when I thought of losing Eric.

He definitely felt my fear. "Don't worry, my Sookie. I was born for battle," he said, and he was proud to say so. I could almost hear the smile in his voice.

"I will still worry," I said in a quiet voice, and smiled along with him. I saw his smiling face clearly in my mind and longed to kiss his silly face. I was about to tell him how much I missed him, but bit my tongue long enough to hear him say it first.

"I miss you so much, dear one." His voice was full of longing too, and the deep crimson filled me, with a sudden flash of bright white light. It didn't matter that we were far apart, we were still connected. "I ache to hold you and kiss you," he said in a quieter voice. It was sincere. I had no doubt that Eric missed me as I missed him.

"Me too," I said, shy. At least I could tell him that much.

I heard a voice in the background, a man saying Eric was needed in the jail. "I have to go. I will call you tomorrow," he said and hung up to deal with whatever crisis had arisen.

"I love you," I said quietly to the phone after the call was disconnected.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next week was busy and exhausting. Jason's doctor had guessed he was a shifter by how fast he was healing. Jason had a new doctor taking care of him, and he had no problem with shifters or vampires. In fact, he thought that shifters made his job easier. Dr. Freeman was a tall lanky man with no hair, a salt-and-pepper beard, and a sincere smile. His mind reminded me of Amelia's in the way he said what he meant. I was glad he was the one in charge of Jason's recovery. One morning, after X-rays confirmed that Jason's broken bones on his pelvis and thigh had healed, he came in with a physical therapist. There was still the matter of Jason's limited mobility. He could wiggle his legs, but was having trouble bending them. They would not hold his weight, we were all sure of that much.

But Jason was not a quitter. He wanted to walk and he was going to do it. He would get mad at the therapists when they tried to make him practice using a wheelchair. Finally, Calvin Norris came in on Saturday, on his day off from work, and talked Jason into practicing with a wheelchair. It was really difficult for Jason to accept the words of his packmaster and obey, but he did so. Dr. Freeman wanted Jason to be able to be independent in the wheelchair while he slowly regained use of his legs. Calvin had been the only one to make Jason understand. I was truly grateful for that.

That day had been exhausting for Jason. He fell asleep as soon as he was back in his room, and Calvin kept me company for a long while. He got me something for dinner and we ate quietly in Jason's room.

"Sam wants to come see you," Calvin said in a very quiet voice.

"No," I said immediately. I didn't even want to consider it.

Calvin nodded in that way he had. He was a quiet person who took everything in and understood without needing explanation. I was grateful for that too. After several minutes of silence he spoke again. "He didn't mean to hurt you, Sookie. Sam is very sorry about what he did. He should have explained his nature, at least. He should not have been so close to you without you knowing…"

"Without me knowing what?" I interrupted. I was mad. What was it with these men, withholding vital information while professing to care for me?

Calvin remained impassive. "We shifters who are born this way feel the imperative to mate with a female during her peak fertile period," he said matter-of-factly. I was reeling as he continued explaining. "Sam knew this about himself, but still put you in a situation where you were exposed. Being so close to you certainly didn't help him keep under control, plus he does like you very much."

"So you think I should forgive him?" I asked incredulous and still very hurt. My voice had come out shrill and Jason moved in his sleep. Calvin and I waited until he settled before Calvin answered me.

"I'm not thinking anything at all. You needed an explanation, and I don't think you ever got one, is all," Calvin said and shrugged, returning to his dinner.

I decided to change the subject. If I ever chose to forgive Sam he would have to ask for forgiveness himself and in person, not through Calvin. "Dr. Freeman is talking about sending Jason home," I said. The subject filled me with anxiety. I wasn't sure what to do with Jason. Take him to my house or his in Bon Temps, where the Fellowship knew we lived? Take him with me to Eric's? Asking Calvin to take us in? Asking Eric for a place on the base? I was lost for a solution.

"Bon Temps isn't safe," Calvin said, echoing my thoughts. "Between the Weres looking for people and the Fellowship looking for you, I think it's best if you remain in the care of the sheriff."

"What about Jason?" I asked.

"Jason can be where you are, or he can come live in my house until he's healed…"

"I'm not leaving Jason alone," I said, interrupting Calvin again. Obviously he and I didn't share the same thought wavelength.

"He wouldn't be alone. There are many in Hot Shot who could take care of him. He's one of us now." Calvin took a deep breath and fixed me with a stare. "What are you going to do with Jason during a full moon? It's just around the corner. He needs to be with us."

I swallowed whatever I was about to say. He'd got me there. It would be Jason's first time turning, and I wouldn't know how to deal with that, or even how his transformation would go since he wasn't a born shifter. There was a lot for me to think about, but my first thought was to be wherever Jason was.

"What if I stayed with you too?" I asked shyly. I'd always thought it was wrong for me to invite myself to places, but I didn't want to leave Jason in the care of others if I could avoid it.

Calvin tilted his head and shrugged one shoulder. "Our town is safe for you except during the three nights of the full moon. You could stay with the sheriff during those three nights," he said, giving it some thought.

"Yes, I could do that," I said, my heart screaming that I should be with Eric _all_ the time, not just during the full moon. I hadn't seen him for more than a week, and tonight was the night they were going on a raid to stop the Weres abducting people and rescue the humans. I told Calvin, though I could tell he already knew.

"I gave the sheriff some information about that," he nodded. He saw me jump out of my skin when my cell phone vibrated in my pocket and smiled at me.

"Excuse me," I said and answered the phone as I left the room. It was Eric. He called me every evening as soon as he woke up for the night. It was very nearly dark outside, and he woke up before the sun had fully set.

Eric listened and asked questions about Jason's progress. He in turn assured me that all would go well tonight, that he had the upper hand and that Alcide Herveaux and his pack had agreed to help. "I told him about your abduction," Eric said sounding apologetic. I trusted Alcide, so I didn't say anything. "He agreed to help then. He has a lot of respect for you." He paused. "As do I," he added. There was so much laced into that tiny statement. He was saying that he hadn't meant to not tell me about the blood bond. He was saying he was sorry. He was saying that it would never ever happen again. He was proving it by telling me all he had planned for that night.

I had yet to say the words that would let him know that I forgave him, and I knew he needed that. "I forgive you, Eric. I want us to be bonded. I want you in my life, and I want to be in yours." The words came out shaky because I'd never been that honest with anyone before. I wasn't sure how to be in a relationship, but I was sure that I didn't want to lose Eric.

"Thank you, Sookie. Your words mean the world to me," he took a deep breath that I heard clearly over the phone. "I miss you so much. It's been so lonely without you."

"I miss you too," I said, my voice still shaky. I caressed his watch on my arm as if it were his face. "I can't wait to see you."

I was tempted to tell him about my plans to move in with Calvin when he took Jason, but I decided against it. Now was not the time. Eric had a lot on his plate that night, and I wasn't sure how my news would be received. He might grow jealous again, and he needed a clear head for the raid.

He told me about Amelia's work around the base, silly stories that he knew would make me laugh, but then we had to hang up. I went back inside Jason's room where I found Calvin talking to him. Jason had woken up, obviously, and Calvin had taken the chance to fill him in on our plan to take him to Hot Shot, to Calvin's house. Jason seemed to approve, but I wasn't sure if he'd gotten all of it.

"I called the nurse for him," Calvin said quietly, reading the worry on my face. We both stood side by side watching Jason close his eyes in agony. He'd been having more and more bouts of excruciating pain lately, and I wondered how that would work out when he changed during the full moon. I'd asked Calvin, but he wasn't sure either. We would have to wait, and pray.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I woke up startled. Apparently there was no other way for me to wake up in the hospital other than to scare myself awake. My eyes immediately caught Eric's glowing skin only inches away from my face, and I threw my whole body at him, knocking him off balance with my unexpected reaction. We ended up sprawled on the floor with me hugging his neck fiercely. He managed to pick us up off the floor, and in half a blink we were inside another room, an empty one.

Eric buried his face at my neck, inhaling deeply the scent of my blood. He held me so tight that I could barely breathe, but I didn't care. I would pass out in his arms any day. The odd angle afforded me the pleasure of his scent, and I breathed him in as deep as I could. I felt my ribs ache with the pressure of his embrace, but it was a sweet ache. In his arms I felt safe. In his arms I felt whole. He pulled his face away from my neck to crush his lips against mine, his tongue pushing past my lips as I opened my mouth to receive him. His taste! How I had missed tasting him. I sucked on his tongue greedily, like I'd been starving without the nectar of his delectable saliva.

Without breaking the kiss he picked me up and laid me down on the bed, settling above me between my legs. I could feel his excitement, not only physically but in his mind as well. His lust was golden, swimming around the edges of the deep crimson, and that's when I understood what I was seeing. I'd had my doubts, but the deep crimson was his love, what he felt for me. It always showed up when we were together, when we spoke on the phone, and again now that he had me in his arms for the first time in more than a week. I got lost within his mind, reveling in the fact that his physical touch only revealed the splendor of his mind.

Words failed us as we began a frenzy of discarded clothes. There was no time for foreplay. I wanted him inside me. I needed him, and he needed me. Eric began growling but tried to keep it quiet. He reached between us to guide himself and entered me quickly, making me gasp in pain. I hadn't been ready.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, dear one," he said and started to take himself away, but I didn't want him to do that.

"Stay!" I commanded him in a strained voice. He stopped moving and looked at me. "Please, stay," I said in a softer voice. I pulled him to me, digging my heels into his thighs, and he came back into me slowly, settling his whole weight on me. He was still looking at me, gauging my pain, I supposed. I caressed his face, pushing his hair behind his ears. I tried to show him my love. I tried to transmit it through my touch.

He began moving inside me very slowly, rotating his hips and hitting that sweet spot just so. It didn't hurt, and in fact felt very pleasurable. I moaned and so did he. His voice sent a river of lava flowing from deep inside me, and made my skin flush with unmasked desire. After only a few minutes of his teasing, I was ready for that wild bout of lovemaking we had started, but neither of us wanted it anymore.

We made love, slow and sweet. He made me forget we were in a hospital. He made me forget that my brother wasn't healthy. He forgot everything he had to handle as sheriff. We were the only two people in the world, and the world had stopped for us. We shared blood again that night. We shared our bodies. We shared our souls. When we came, we came as one. I was his, and he was mine. I certainly knew where I belonged.

**TBC**

**A/N: We still haven't heard from the Fellowship…**


	30. The Best Laid Plans

**A/N: BlackDeadOrchids made me a banner for this fic. Pleasepleaseplease go to my profile and check it out. I posted the link earlier.**

I'm trying something new with part of this POV. It's called third person omniscient, which means I know everything (don't I wish). So… the story won't be told from any one person's perspective but from many at the same time. It's not very popular because it can be difficult, but I'm in good company: Dan Brown (_Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, The Lost Symbol)_ writes like this… not that I'm comparing myself to him. I just wanted to try it.

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**THE BEST LAID PLANS**

The scent of fresh blood was tantalizing. Eric could feel it, calling to him, like a siren to a sailor. He had not drunk any human blood in more than a week, not since taking a mouthful of Sookie's delectable essence. He had not wanted for donors. With so many humans at Barksdale, and so many more coming in, there was never a lack of willing men and women. He had abstained because the memory of Sookie's taste was still fresh in his mouth, and to taint it with another's would have been unpardonable. But tonight he would have to. He would gorge on the blood of the enemy.

"North Man," Herveaux whispered from a nearby tree, motioning him to come closer to his vantage point. Alcide had been able to infiltrate the Were encampment and get the lay of the land, how many humans were hostages, and how many of those had been bitten. Herveaux saw himself as one of the good guys. He was livid with the way other werewolf packs had taken advantage of the chaos. His pack had sided with him and disbanded into an informal group, to give the vampire sheriff more power and to help the fledgling government. Anything had to be better than what the humans had done, and so far the vampires had shown they could be merciful and fair.

However, the vampires could not be merciful or fair when it came to human abductions. The government needed to set an example of what it would and would not tolerate. This was understood and accepted by many: by the humans because they were the weaker race; by all the shape shifters because the good ones did not want their lot thrown in with the few bad apples; and by the vampire government, which didn't have time to mete out judgments and punishments when so many were still getting hurt. The raid that would take place tonight would serve as a reminder of who was in charge. Thereafter, whoever dared abduct and sell humans to young vampires for food would know that the punishment would be a swift and immediate death. Any young vampires found making deals to purchase humans would meet the same fate.

There were three young vampires in that camp tonight, neither of them old enough to be aware of the line of vampires and Weres surrounding the area. They were simply hungry. Two of them had shared the same maker and were telling the third how their maker had met the final death at the hands of a member of the Fellowship. Their maker had done the impossible to hide his children during the day, at the expense of his own hiding place. He had gone to ground above his children, and the hole had been too shallow. All that the children had found were ashes and a shovel when they woke up for the night.

Eric moved closer to Herveaux, to listen to what the man had to say. There were ten werewolves, all armed to the teeth with stakes and guns. There were twenty humans allowed to roam free because they had been bitten, all of them were females. And there were forty or so human abductees all tied to trees. They were in the middle of the woods that led from Bon Temps to Hot Shot, well away from both towns to not be detected by the residents of either. Calvin had found them only because he had been looking on purpose, and was then able to give the information to Eric. The sheriff was glad that he had the best men on his side.

Slowly they began closing the circle around the camp. There were two teams: one that would concentrate on taking the humans out of there, the other would do battle with the Weres. Because the sheriff's forces were now so numerous at thirty strong, the operation would go smoothly as long as the vampires could avoid the stakes.

The closer the advancing forces got, the more on alert the Weres became. They started rounding up their bitten females, and each Were took up a position near a tree full of humans. A blur of movement at one corner of the camp signaled the death of the three young vampire customers. Pam was not very skilled with a sword, but her speed was like a snake's. She staked all three vampires in quick succession, and the whole episode lasted no more than a second. She did not keep the bloody stake. She always preferred to use her hands as weapons.

"Come on out and show yourselves! Fucking bunch of cowards you are!" the lead Were shouted. He was sure these vamps had come to steal his humans. Over their dead bodies! He would kill all the humans, and the scent of fresh blood would distract the vampires long enough for his people to make their escape. He gave the signal to his men, and they each took out a spring-loaded hunting knife, each blade five inches long and sharp from tip to hilt. Another quick signal and each man started slashing at the throats of their captive humans.

There was no time to waste. Without a signal Eric propelled himself forward and swung his sword low and wide, catching the lead Were through the middle, cutting him clean in half and stopping just short of cutting through the human that had been in front of him. He heard the cries of desperation from the humans, but he wasn't there to save them. He had others on task for that. He was there to destroy. Eric chased Were after Were. He felt a bullet enter his arm but couldn't stop to care. The rage at what he had just witnessed was a living, breathing being inside him and it was exacting revenge on those who would harm the innocent. Each head he took and heard fall fed the beast within him, and the blood called to him. He wanted to feed and fuck. He wanted it now.

Pam saw her maker heading towards the bitten females, slashing through whoever stood in his path, not caring if they were friend or foe. Thankfully she noticed they were all foes. Eric fell onto a female, with every intention of feeding and fucking her. Pam ran faster than the wind, catching her master just as he was sinking his fangs on the glamoured female's neck. He was starting to tear his clothes off.

"Eric!" Pam called, standing in front of him. He had the sense to look up. "Sookie…" she said, and there was pain in her gaze. If he didn't stop he would hurt Sookie. He didn't belong to himself. He belonged to his blood bonded. He fed. He drained the woman in his arms but did nothing more. Only when he stopped feeding did he take stock of the carnage before his eyes. The shape shifters on his side had disposed of all the bitten shifters. They were tainted, like a bad vampire maker taints his children, so were the bitten Weres. His team was able to save about twenty humans, but the rest were beyond help. Bill made a vampire that night, and so did Godric, two humans that had been on the verge of death that they had been able to save.

It was Alcide's job now to spread the word of what had happened that night among his group, and to make sure others knew. Slaughter of this sort had to be stopped. Nobody foresaw that the Weres would rather kill their quarry than run. Eric's people had been prepared to run after the abductors. The horrible images of the men slashing one neck after another, heads lolling off the bodies, red, red, and more red everywhere in spurts until their hearts decided to finally stop pumping. Alcide had never seen anything like it in his life. He cried that night. After burying the bodies of the Weres in a large pit and collecting the bodies of the humans for a rightful burial, after making sure the bodies were transported all the way to Barksdale, after he made love to his Maria, Alcide Herveaux cried.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sookie held me tight against her. Her warmth and her feelings were seeping inside me, healing me from the events of the raid. She would not let me leave her side for anything, and I knew that Pam had saved me from the worst kind of torture: the guilt I would have carried for being unfaithful to my bonded. Sookie would never have to know how close I came to ruining everything.

"Eric? Do you want to talk about it?" she asked me very quietly. We were in an empty room close to her brother's room in the hospital, and she was afraid somebody would come in, even though I'd made sure nobody would.

"Not tonight, dear one. You have a lot to worry about already," I said, but I should have known that my little Sookie would have something to say about that.

"Now I'm even more worried about what happened. Just tell me, please." She held me even tighter, waiting for the bad news. I told her some things, but not everything. It was enough and she began crying.

I kissed her tears away, making sure she felt how much I needed her. I loved her. I knew I did. It was much more than love, though. I loved Pam too, but not like this torturous feeling that wouldn't let me be apart from Sookie. Even through the sadness I still needed her. I needed her body and I needed _her_. At first I figured it was part of the blood bond, but then I realized that I'd been feeling this way and it was the reason for binding her to me, because I would not be able to stand being without her.

Sookie ran her small hand over my face, memorizing my features again. I kissed her, over and over, reminding her that she was mine, and that I was hers. I stopped. Before making love again, I wanted to hear about her brother. She only told me some of it over the phone, but it was obviously eating at her. Her worries were my worries too.

"Calvin said Jason should go to Hot Shot, so they can take care of him," she said, but I felt a type of apprehension coming from her. "I think I should go with him too."

"To Hot Shot?" I asked, feeling a sudden dread. She must have felt it too.

"Why not? It's just until Jason is better…" she stopped talking when she saw me shaking my head.

"No, Sookie, you don't know them. They're not like you, they're not human. Remember why Sam was so mad at you?" I tried to make her see reason.

"Calvin explained why he did it," she said in a low voice. I think she understood.

"Imagine a whole village wanting you in the same way, including Calvin. I'm surprised your brother agreed."

"He might not have been all there. He was in a lot of pain, more than we thought. My brother was trying to hide how bad he was feeling when we were talking to him, but finally the pain won out. I don't know, Eric. How am I supposed to take care of Jason?" she asked, properly worried and at a loss.

"We can take him to my house except for the three days of the full moon. Or we can take him to Calvin's. Why don't you ask him and let him decide? Sookie, I'm worried about you. You've been through a lot and you haven't sought help yet. I promised you I would find it for you, and I did, but you would need to return with me so you can get treatment. I want you well. You will be able to help Jason better if you are healthy." Sookie was looking up at the ceiling, either not wanting to acknowledge that my words were true, or else knowing they were true but were still painful. "I'm sorry," I said, not knowing what else to do.

"No, Eric, you're right. You don't have to be sorry when you're right. I've been trying," she took a deep ragged breath, "God knows I've been trying, but there are times when I can't stop crying, or I wake up covered in sweat after a nightmare. I've never been that way. It takes a strong person to admit she needs help, and I need help," she said and looked at me.

I stroked her cheek. She was much stronger than she gave herself credit for. She wasn't completely convinced by her own statement, but I was. "My little Sookie, you are very strong. You've been trying to soldier on all this time on your own, and I think that with a little help you will be fine again in no time. There are many that suffer like you do, you are not alone, and you have me."

"Do I really have you?" she asked under her breath. If I'd been human I probably wouldn't have heard her.

"Yes, Sookie. You have me body and soul forever." I tightened my arms around her, kissing her neck, feeling her body relax slowly at my attentions.

I made love to my darling again, taking it slow to make sure she was ready this time. Her willingness to accept me after I hurt her earlier had spoken volumes about what she felt for me. I would never make that mistake again, though. I made sure that my blood had already healed her as I pleasured her, watching her body flush red with the heat of her lust. She begged for me to satisfy her need, and she chanted my name with every one of my thrusts. I wanted to shout her name from every corner of the hospital, so that everybody would know she was mine.

Sookie fell asleep in my arms soon after our second time making love. She felt safe with me, and since she hadn't slept well for so long, her poor body gave up. I let her rest for as long as I could before I had to leave and find shelter for the day. We were tangled on the small hospital bed, Sookie's body molded into mine. I didn't mind spending an idle hour just looking at my beloved, guarding her dreams.

At close to five in the morning I helped her get dressed, and walked with her back to her brother's room. That's when I noticed something was wrong. Right before opening the door to the room I could tell he wasn't there. I entered the room before Sookie did. She was still too sleepy to understand what had happened. There was a note on the bed and I grabbed it quickly. Before I even read the stupid thing, I called Amelia to come to the hospital immediately. I called Calvin too and left him a message. Somebody had taken Jason, and I didn't need to read the note to know who had done it and the ultimate purpose.

It had been a mistake to take Sookie away from the room. Her charm had been working on her brother too. Without it they had found him and taken him. I berated myself for all of two seconds before I finally picked up the note and read the message: _Sookie must come to Belle Rive or she will never see her brother again. We can torture just as good as you can, Vampire._

What the fuck? ! Had they followed me? Did I lead them here? I had failed Sookie miserably. Her face when she understood what had happened was like a thousand stakes through my heart. Could she ever forgive me?

**TBC**

**A/N: I have to thank BlackDeadOrchids again for the beautiful banner she made for this fic. The link is already on my profile. AND, I'd had a major case of writer's block trying to churn out this chapter, but something she said got the wheels turning. So… let's all collectively thank her for being amazing in so many ways. I'll be like Amelia and remind y'all of your manners: THANK YOU BlackDeadOrchids FOR THE BANNER AND THE IDEA! *mwah***


	31. Of Potions and Vampires

**A/N: **I am so sorry! I got all your wonderful reviews to the last chapter, and I was only able to reply to a few. Between the problems with FF, then RL, then I've been putting a blog together so I have a way to communicate with y'all AND back up my stories because I'm deathly afraid that someone will one day say my stories are not suitable for FF and they'll get deleted. Yikes! Plus I've been helping some fellow writers and… well, let's just say that I read and cherished every one of your reviews even if it seems like I didn't, and I apologize because I know how important it is to reply and thank all my readers. It's just good manners! Okay, so I love all of you and don't forget it!

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**OF POTIONS AND VAMPIRES**

I felt like a worm on a hook as I exited Eric's truck, like bait. He'd had the truck fixed during the week that we'd been apart and I drove it from his house in Shreveport to Belle Rive in Bon Temps. I had no illusions that my brother would be here, but my arriving here alone was part of the plan. The only thing I had on me was my clothes. I left everything else behind, including the keys in the truck. It was the middle of the day, so they couldn't accuse me of arriving with a vampire, or that a vampire was watching from across the street. Nobody saw me enter the house other than the people who opened the door to let me in.

I mentally thanked Amelia for all the potions she had concocted. She'd given me something for my nerves, so I could keep a level head; she'd switched the purpose of the watch I was wearing (which I had refused to part with), and instead of invisible I was even easier to see, so that the good guys could retrieve me easiest; and she'd made me wear a tampon for the first time in my life… only the casing. Inside she'd put the same herbs she had used to make the Trust charm. Instead of a Ziploc bag she'd used a condom. I was mortified and determined all at the same time.

My knock at the front door was answered immediately by Portia Bellefleur. Behind her were several men and women. They all looked like they meant business. They didn't know my best friend was a witch, and even though they knew my boyfriend was the Sheriff, they couldn't fathom the things he'd do to save a human, any human, let alone the brother of his blood bonded. Portia in particular, being a lawyer, thought that the Sheriff had to adhere to the laws of the land. She couldn't understand that the laws of the land no longer applied. This was new territory, like the Wild West, and new rules were being forged as they were warranted.

Right now I wanted a rule that warranted my eyes to become daggers and kill whoever I didn't like, but I guess that was asking for too much. Instead I settled for letting my charm procure the absolute trust of these people. Not that I would try to test the charm's effectiveness. I was going to do whatever they wanted me to do.

"You got our note," Portia said, rather unimaginatively if you ask me.

I bit back the "duh!" and went with, "My boyfriend found it. It was written for him, right?"

One of the women smiled, like she was all proud of herself. My rage was being tempered by the stuff Amelia gave me for my nerves. Instead of gloating, couldn't we just get this over with? I came here so they would release my brother… or, at least, so I could glean from their minds where he was. So far, no luck. I was seeing all kinds of other stuff, though. I was seeing where they were planning on taking me. I would not stay in Belle Rive for much longer. Nobody expected that would be the case.

Two men approached me with a blindfold and a pair of handcuffs. "Don't resist us and we won't hurt you," said one of them. He looked to me in his early thirties, taller than me and brawny.

"I'm not gonna resist. I just wanna make sure my brother is released soon. He needs to be returned to the hospital. He's been in a lot of pain lately," I said. I offered up all that information on purpose to try to elicit thoughts about Jason's current location. Again, I was out of luck, but I figured out why: none of these people knew where Jason had been taken. It had been done on purpose, knowing that I would have been able to know their thoughts. _Shit!_

One man brought my arms behind me to put the handcuffs and the other fitted me with the blindfold. I let them do whatever they needed to do. They thought that by taking me away from here that Eric wouldn't be able to find me. He could find me easily through our blood bond, even easier by using Amelia's compass, but I wasn't about to tell them that. None of these people could imagine that any of it existed. They'd been there for Tim's speech about blood bonds, but they barely believed it, or couldn't conceive that someone like me would enter into one.

I was pushed forward through the house. I focused on one mind, the easiest to read: Portia's. Her thoughts were linear, organized. No wonder she chose to be a lawyer. I saw exactly what they would do next: put me inside a minivan. Then we would drive to someone's house in Monroe, an hour and a half away from Shreveport, thinking that distance was important.

The ride was silent to my ears, but the brains were buzzing around me. I started to get a splitting headache from trying to listen to everything at the same time, so I had to focus on just Portia's. She was thinking about the next steps for the people in her group. Even though the people from the jail in Homer had either escaped or let go, they were putting the structure back together so they could house me and whoever else they captured. Portia was thinking about Sam and the people from Hot Shot. That sent chills down my spine.

Portia was also thinking about a man she had met recently who said he wanted to join her group. She liked him. I saw him in her mind's eye and recognized him immediately. How could I not? He'd been in jail with me. He was about as tall as Eric, but way more muscular, with eyes in a shade of blue that looked purple, like Elizabeth Taylor's. He had a completely shaved head in jail but had let his hair grow out and now looked like a buzz cut. I recognized him immediately: those eyes were unforgettable. John Quinn was trying to infiltrate the Fellowship. I wished him all the luck I could muster in my serene head.

Wherever we were, we had arrived. I saw the house through Portia's eyes. It was situated on a large lot, far away from any other houses. That's why they had picked it, in case I would scream or something. Inside it looked like a regular house. They were actually keeping me inside it because it was too hot to keep me in the shed out back, and I might spend a long time in their "care." This was Portia's only nod to having known me all our lives: comfortable accommodations during my captivity. Whatever.

My room itself had nothing in it but a bed. They took off the blindfold and the handcuffs as soon as I was inside it, then they locked the door. I didn't even try the window. I was sure it would be locked from the outside in some way. There were no curtains, so they could keep an eye on me easily. I wondered where the bathroom was and how that would work, then I had to remind myself that I wasn't going to spend more than I few hours in here.

I listened to the brains around me but nobody was thinking anything interesting anymore. They were having lunch. How prosaic. Meanwhile, was it too much to ask to have a book to read, a magazine, anything? I would die here of pure boredom. Boring minds. Boring surroundings. Boring… boring…

Then my mind perked up. Two people were leaving the house to make the phone call to release my brother. Unfortunately that was all I heard. I started praying that Amelia had finished with the compass she was bewitching to find him. Alcide and Calvin were both helping her. Calvin in particular had been in all kinds of distress. With the full moon only days away and my brother in the state he was in, I understood perfectly. I'd been in the same distraught state until Amelia gave me that potion. And now I felt like a bored teenager, full of ennui and nothing to do.

So I closed my eyes and went through everything that had happened since early that morning. Eric had helped me get dressed and we walked slowly to Jason's room. Before we even opened the door I felt Eric's anger and rage, that bright red feeling. He had run inside the room vampire fast and found the note. Even before reading it he called Amelia and Calvin in quick succession. Everything happened so rapidly that I was having a hard time understanding what had just happened. Jason was gone. I couldn't believe it. I'd been so stupid. Amelia was going to make him a charm like mine but hadn't found one special herb that she needed for the spell. She was going to come do the spell that very same day, she'd told me so. I was supposed to leave the watch with Jason if I would be guarded by somebody else. In my haste to be with Eric I had forgotten everything. It was serendipity, or plain old bad luck that the Fellowship chose that very same night to take Jason.

I remembered how Eric had looked. He'd seen my face twisted in pain and he started to blame himself. If I knew anything with utter conviction was that he was the least culpable. I had to literally shake him out of it! He'd held me so, so tight as he told me over and over how sorry he was. Somehow my brain engaged into fight mode before his or something, because all I wanted was for him to help me get Jason back and nothing else. I didn't want to place blame on any of us. We were all victims here! What the hell? !

My mind was running a hundred miles a minute, but my body betrayed nothing as I lay there on that bed in that house in the middle of nowhere. There was a knock on the door and Portia came in, followed by the tall-brawny guy. She had brought me a plate of food and a can of soda. Amelia warned me not to eat or drink anything, but not because it would interfere with her potion, or anything like that. She said they could drug the food or drink to keep me sedated. I told Portia I wasn't hungry, but she left the food at the foot of the bed anyway. Oh, well… They'd all be highly disappointed.

I kept thinking about anything and everything, coming up with theories about how vampires came to be, testing hypotheses in my mind, anything to keep me occupied until the sun finally set. I felt smarter than I had in years, remembering things from my biology and chemistry classes in high school, as well as history and everything I'd read ever since I'd learned how to read. It still didn't bring me closer to figuring out where Jason was because there was no information to be gathered about that.

As soon as night set I heard the telltale sounds of chains and a few barks. I searched the brains of the people nearby and found out that someone had brought guard dogs. Yeah, because guard dogs will stop a flying vampire… not only that, but Eric had once told me that vampires were able to glamour animals. Their brains were simple so it was easy. I did read that the humans were armed with silver and sharpened stakes. That scared me but it was expected. They had the Sheriff's girlfriend in their house. He was coming.

About a half hour after sunset a cop showed up at the main door. He was a human from Monroe PD, and he was thinking rather loudly that whoever was going to look inside the house better do it quickly because he had no right to enter it. I got up immediately and looked out my window. I could see blurs, but nothing concrete. The dogs were quiet, so obviously the blurs were vampires moving through the backyard.

Pam's white face at my window startled me, but not very much. The potion was still working very well. She was looking around the window, trying to figure out how to open it. That struck me as a little funny. I opened the lock inside and tried it, but it was sealed tight. She tried it too, and nothing. I knew she could just shatter it easily with the heel of her shoe, but apparently she was trying to be stealthy and not make any noise.

She looked behind her, apparently following an order and motioned for me to move away. I moved to the other side of the bed and away to avoid any flying glass. Pam shattered it to smithereens and an alarm broke the otherwise silent night.

"Fuck a zombie! Come!" Pam yelled, and I picked my way through the glass as fast as I could.

Tall-brawny burst through the door and ran to get me, launching himself at me grabbing my legs at the same time that Pam had my shoulders. Obviously she was the stronger of the two and got me out of the house. All the while I felt bits of glass cut through my sides and legs, plus the man was pulled along with me, so that hurt too. Pam threw me over her shoulders, with the man still attached to my legs. She tried to do something to him that I didn't see, but he was faster than we expected. I was thrown to the ground when he injured Pam.

I turned quickly and saw a small silver net over her head and the man lunging for me. He had something shiny in his hand, and I thought it would be another silver item. I tried to evade him but he reached me too fast.

A scream pierced the night. Only when I fell to the ground did I realize it was mine.

**TBC**

**A/N: Follow me on Twitter rebelina11. My blog is beautiful, and the always-way-too-amazing-for-words BlackDeadOrchids helped me with the look of my Twitter and blog pages (heck! She made EVERYTHING!). You can go to my profile here on FF and click on webpage, or copy and paste (take out the spaces): http: / rebelina11 . wordpress . com.**


	32. Evidence

**A/N: **I needed to tell this chapter from different POV's. Rather than splitting it into several "first-person-singular's," I'm giving the third person omniscient another go.

Quick info regarding police radio traffic: cops are assigned a beat, and that beat is usually a letter and a number. Letters are Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, David, etc, and usually specify an area. The officers can be assigned to the same area with a different number. 10-23 is a call-out that means "I'm here." 10-4 is a call-out that means "Okay." All these rules can change depending on the police station, and even the call-outs can mean different things in different jurisdictions. I'm using the call-outs I know from where my hubby works.

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**EVIDENCE**

Pam and Eric stayed at Bill Compton's house during the day in order to be close to Sookie when they awoke for the night. Eric had the compass that would lead him to her tucked securely inside his pants' pocket, and even though they weren't expecting the Fellowship to keep her in Bon Temps, he was confident she would not be too far away. As soon as he awoke for the night he searched for her feelings within him. Sookie was not in Bon Temps. She was many miles away, but not too far that she could not be easily found. He took out the compass and examined it… due east. He closed his eyes and concentrated. He could not hear her thoughts but he could see she was inside the bedroom of a house and all seemed quiet. That gave Eric some peace of mind as he waited for the last rays of the sun to be extinguished and for Pam to awaken.

They flew in the direction that the compass took them, until they went too far and had to go back west. By then Eric was able to feel Sookie better. Pam had arranged for the local police department to do a welfare check on the property. They arrived just as an officer was pulling in the long driveway of the house where they were keeping Sookie. Eric landed them right beside the man.

"Sheriff?" he asked, surprised at seeing the vampire appear out of the sky, but keeping it professional. Eric admired that in him.

"Yes, Officer Murphy," Eric acknowledged the policeman by the name on his badge. "Thank you for coming on short notice. All we need you to do is occupy the people inside for a few minutes," he said, watching as the man nodded in an official manner.

"Yes, sir," Murphy said to him and spoke into his radio as he walked to the front door with purpose. "David 42, 10-23." The dispatcher acknowledged the broadcast with, "10-4, David 42."

Eric and Pam rounded the property towards the back, focusing on sedating the guard dogs that prowled the backyard. All five males were sleeping in no time, and Pam moved to the window where they could already see Sookie standing and trying to peer into the backyard. The sight of her made Eric's silent heart ache, but he had to focus. Pam was in charge of getting her out of that room while he glamoured the humans inside. He was better at glamouring large numbers, and would use the open door to gain an invitation.

Pam tried the window, but it wasn't budging. She didn't want to force it and have the wood splinter everywhere, for obvious reasons. "Just break the glass and move fast," Eric hissed.

He moved quickly to the front door and had every human that had answered the door under his influence in mere seconds. Officer Murphy nodded and let him take over the exchange. Whether Murphy knew that Eric had glamoured the humans or not was inconsequential. These people had knowledge about the Fellowship that Eric's investigators needed, and they would have to give it to him. Before he could ask for an invitation he heard the shrill sound of an alarm. The window that Pam had shattered had triggered it.

"Invite me in!" he yelled at the first blank face he saw. But that wasn't the owner of the house. Eric tried with the other three faces and had no luck.

He heard a commotion from the backyard and decided to abandon his efforts to gain entry. Before he could reach the backyard Eric felt like he'd been stabbed through the abdomen. The pain was so sudden and excruciating that it made him double over. He couldn't see anything, his vision blurring as he fell to his knees. Sookie's mind invaded his, terror and panic searing through him as it did through her. He pushed against it in desperation, hearing the screams of both his blood bonded and his child.

Officer Murphy ran to the backyard, passing the sheriff on the ground without pausing, following the screams. He took his weapon out of the holster as he ran. He hadn't heard the sound of a gun, but screams of that nature meant that a weapon was being used against somebody.

Eric stumbled forward, opting to close the bonds with Pam and Sookie so he could help them. Two shots rang into the night as he rounded the corner of the house. Murphy had drawn his gun on a human who was still coming at him, even though he was bleeding profusely from his shoulder and abdomen.

"Police! Stop!" yelled Murphy, but the man kept advancing, wielding a bloody knife. Quicker than Murphy could fire a bullet, Eric was on the man with the knife, breaking his neck.

That's when he saw what had been done to Sookie. She was lying in a pool of blood, and Pam was trying desperately to save her, having her drink blood from her wrist. Pam's face was sizzling under a small silver net, but she was still trying to save Eric's blood bonded. Her expression was contorted into a kind of pain that wasn't physical.

He peeled the net off Pam's head and face, watching as Pam's blood dripped into Sookie's mouth. Pam was doing her best to massage Sookie's throat to make it go down. He watched as his child suddenly lost her usual composure. He was watching it all detached. His mind refused to acknowledge what he was seeing.

"God damn it! Drink, Sookie!" Pam yelled and sniffled. She looked up with bloody tears streaming from her eyes. "She has no heartbeat," she whispered.

She had only confirmed what Eric already knew. He felt rage welling inside him, rising. A sorrow so great it had no name tore at his throat and he wailed at the night sky.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sookie had taken some of Pam's blood before her body went into shock. The knife wounds to her abdomen were too much for her to handle, and her heart stopped as she drank. Then her whole body went silent and she stopped drinking altogether. Pam forced the blood into her anyway, and could have sworn that the magic had taken over for a brief moment. Sookie seemed to gulp two more mouthfuls of her blood, but it could have been wishful thinking on Pam's part.

Eric took the net off Pam's head, and she felt unbelievably guilty for what had happened. She should have protected Sookie better. She wasn't even sure where she'd made the mistake. She got too confident, thinking that since the attacker was human how much harm could he do? Loads of it, that's how much.

When Pam realized that Sookie wasn't drinking anymore and that her heart had stopped for good, she lost it. This human was her maker's joy, and now she was gone. Pam felt his pain as her own. She felt her own pain too, because Sookie had been a good person and had suffered a lot in her short life to be killed in this manner. She had deserved a peaceful death, not this.

"He was high on vampire blood, ma'am," that man, the cop, said. He was looking through the man's pants and had found what looked to be a small vial of blood. Eric had left. Pam could hear him tearing the house apart from the outside in. In his grief he was going to make the humans perish by whichever means possible. Since he couldn't get inside the house, he would demolish it with his bare hands and let it bury the humans alive.

"That explains so much," Pam muttered, bringing Sookie's bloody form closer. The bastard that had stabbed Sookie had been moving faster than she expected because he was a fucking hypocrite. Figures. Vampires are the devil, but go ahead and take their blood to make you as strong as them.

Pam hugged Sookie and cradled her, like Eric had told her he'd done during her turning. She held onto that hope… that in three nights Sookie would rise as vampire. Would Eric let her keep Sookie to find out? She didn't wait to see his reaction. She picked up Sookie and ran through the night.

Half an hour later she was at Bill Compton's house. He threw the door open and let her enter immediately, seeing the bloody mess that was Sookie. Bill didn't say a word. He was too upset for speech.

"I didn't know where else to go," Pam muttered.

"Does the sheriff live?" Bill asked, wondering why Eric wasn't there as well. It was a fair question.

"He is suffering from blood lust brought on by grief. I need to bury her body," Pam said, hugging Sookie a little closer to her own body, noticing that her warmth was completely gone.

Bill understood and led her back outside. He ran and reappeared with a shovel. "Follow me," he said. Once again he led the way, this time to the woods behind his house which coincidentally were the same woods that were behind Sookie's childhood home.

Bill made the hole deep and wide enough for both Sookie and Pam. She laid Sookie within it before getting in beside her.

"Thank you, Bill," she said looking up before he covered the two women.

"What shall I say to Eric? He will be frantic in pain at the loss of both of you," Bill said, thinking Pam wouldn't want to be found.

"You can tell him everything, Bill. If he asks you to show him the spot, please do so. I do not want to put his rage on you. Have you ever been a maker?" she asked, feeling apprehensive. Sookie might be a rotting corpse in three nights. She might have done it wrong. She _knew_ she'd done it wrong because she'd done it without thinking.

"I've never been a maker. I'm so sorry, Pam. If Sookie does rise I am sure she will be very grateful to you for saving her life," Bill offered and tried to smile. He was grieving for Sookie too.

"I'm not sure she will be grateful," Pam said. If Sookie rose, would she hate her? Pam decided that was the least of all the problems at the time.

"Give me a second," Bill said, leaving and returning shortly thereafter with a blanket. He arranged it over the two women and began filling the hole.

Pam closed her eyes and dared pray for the first time in… too long. She'd been a churchgoing young woman when Eric turned her. Even if she thought that the rules imposed by Church and custom were stupid, she still believed in God and the saints. And she used to pray a lot. She vaguely remembered that she should pray to Saint Jude about this situation. She wished she was right and prayed with all the might of someone who should know better but has exhausted all other recourses.

Under the weight of the dirt above them Pam couldn't tell time. She couldn't feel Eric because he had cut the bond off earlier, probably when he felt Sookie's pain. She couldn't see anything because as good as her sight is she still needs some bit of light. She remembered her cell phone was still in her pocket. It could provide her with some light, she figured. She made that her endeavor for the next half hour: to retrieve her phone and bring it closer to her face.

The thing had no service, so she was truly alone down there with Sookie's dead body. As soon as she thought that she closed her eyes again and sent out a new prayer. She turned the phone so she could see Sookie's face. The blanket was obscuring her face, so she endeavored to lift it from her so Pam could see her, shifting the earth above them as best she could. Once that was done she steeled herself against the sight that would meet her eyes. Sookie's skin was sallow. Pam had smeared blood all over Sookie's face, and now it was caked on her skin and hair. Too late she thought that she should have cleaned her before going to ground. The sight of the broken girl was enough to make her wish with all her might that Sookie would wake up, even as a vampire. She felt a sob rip through her thinking of Eric and how he had looked as he grieved for his love. If Pam could bring Sookie back… if only… if only she would come back… she would relinquish her role as maker of the girl to make Eric happy.

She stared at Sookie's face, memorizing every line, freckle and discoloration. The phone was running low on battery so she shut if off completely as she felt the pull of day to sleep. Not once had she felt anything from her maker.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Bill knelt over the spot where Pam and Sookie were resting underground. He remembered the way Eric had loved Sookie. It had been an emotion that he never thought the Viking could still feel after being alive for a millennium. Bill knew he would have to do something for Eric. If what Pam said was true, he would be in danger of going into a rampage against any and all, vampire, human or shifter.

Bill called Indira and asked for her help. She in turn called Thalia and Godric, the two vampires who were strong enough to take on Eric. When they went in search of him they found him back in Pam's car, which was still on Bill's property. He must have arrived while they were making a plan to find him.

"Eric?" Bill called his name. He was holding onto the steering wheel, but the car was off and the driver's door was open.

"Pam has the keys," Eric said, answering whatever question he thought Bill was asking.

Eric looked devastated. His clothes were torn and bloody. He hadn't bothered cleaning his mouth after feeding. His hair was matted with dried blood and hung in clumps around his face and shoulders. He was staring at the steering wheel in his hands with the vacant look of a broken man.

"Do you want me to drive you home?" Bill offered. Maybe that would snap him to.

"Where is Pam, Bill?" Eric asked, moving his head to look at Bill. He didn't notice anybody else but the one who had spoken. Eric's eyes had a murderous glare.

"I will show you," Bill said.

Eric's expression changed. He wasn't expecting Bill to be forthcoming with the information he was seeking. He nodded and got out of the car slowly. They walked into the woods, the other vampires doing their best to match their steps to Eric's, who was walking decidedly slowly. When they reached the small clearing where Bill had buried Pam and Sookie, Eric knelt next to where the ground had been disturbed.

"The Fellowship will seek revenge," Eric began, talking to all of his people and to nobody at all. "Issue a statement to the news that they kidnapped my fiancée, tortured her and killed her, and that they hid her body inside the house in Monroe. We had to demolish it to find her and give her a proper burial."

Bill knew Sookie was, at most, Eric's girlfriend, and he knew that she hadn't been tortured because he'd seen her body. Eric was covering his tracks, and that was fine by Bill. He was holding onto the hope that Sookie would rise as a vampire, but if she didn't Bill would grieve for his first human friend. With his grief would come the rage against those who had hurt her so badly. For the next three nights he would simply wait, and hope.

"I'll take care of it," Indira said to Eric, and left to make sure the statement was issued by the end of the night.

"Eric, you may spend the day at my house," Bill said, and motioned for Godric and Thalia to follow him back and leave Eric alone with his grief.

"Thank you, Bill," Eric said as they left. Bill looked over his shoulder to see Eric curl up on the earth above his lover and child.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Eric lay against the damp clay-like dirt that covered his lover's grave. He truly wished that Pam's efforts would be rewarded, but his hope had left him. He felt empty. He didn't dare allow himself to open the bonds he shared with his child and with Sookie because he feared that opening one would open the other. He wasn't ready to feel nothing.

"Too soon, too soon," he murmured against the bracken and tiny pebbles that made up the dirt under his face. With Sookie he had found something he never knew he could have. It was new, it was magnificent. He'd found a home, her beauty and her charm calling to him. He'd had it all for a few precious weeks. He had been greedy and expected to spend many wonderful years by her side. He got weeks instead. Eric was used to seeing death around him, but he hadn't yet been prepared for the death of someone who had become a part of him so completely.

Eric stood up, lost in thoughts and desperation, walking through the woods in no particular direction, finding himself right outside Sookie's childhood home. He remembered where the key had been: second pot from the left on the porch. He opened the door and went inside, remembering the night that Sookie had granted him permission to enter. She'd been in distress and had called for him. She wanted nobody else but him. That had been invitation enough.

Now he followed her scent to what used to be her bedroom. There was not much left inside it, but her pillow and her mattress still held her essence. Eric buried his blood-stained face into the pillow, inhaling deeply and hugging it closely, pretending it was Sookie and kissing it softly. He missed her lips, and remembered their first kiss, her tentative moves, so sweet. He brought up the images of their first time making love, how his fingers had breached her maidenhead, how he had healed her by pricking his tongue with a fang and licking her as deep as he could. Oh, the taste of her! He yearned for no other. Her body was made for his.

And so he cried for what he had lost, sobbing like a child in frustration and a sorrow so great that told him, without doubt, that if Sookie did not arise on the third night, he would meet the sun the next morning.

**TBC**

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**A/N: Just a few more chapters (three at the most) and we'll reach the end. Thank you so much for reading this far! Thank you to all who have reviewed, alerted, and favorited this story.**

**Please make sure you visit the "Dead After Dead Reckoning" contest site (take out spaces: http : / www . Fanfiction . net / u / 2890449 / ) and cast your vote for your favorite fic. I will be continuing mine after July 3, when the votes are tallied and the winner is announced. If you've liked AAD and/or this fic, then don't forget to alert "Nothing's Gonna Change My World" or me as an author.**

**Remember I will be featured in the Fangreaders Author's Spotlight on June 28 at 8pm GMT (4pm EST). I am also the newest member of their hosting group and will be hosting several chats throughout the month of July! If you'd like to join us for any or all, please go to Fangreaders(dot)blogspot(dot)com and tell them you want to be a Fangreader too. To see the calendar of upcoming chats, visit (take out spaces): https : / docs . google . com / document / pub?id = 1oKe7yMkzzEV8zAqA8bFBJa-HBh1KYpcunXJ3xLgCFsg&pli = 1**


	33. Until You're Resting Here with Me

**UNTIL YOU'RE RESTING HERE WITH ME**

I felt so cold when that knife went through me. At first I couldn't believe it. I could hear my own screams but didn't know it was me screaming. I saw everything in slow motion. Pam pushed the man away from me with a scream of rage. She broke my fall. I landed on her lap.

"Drink," she ordered me. She'd made a hole on her wrist. I wanted to live so I drank. I started to feel her pain, the pain all over her face. I wanted, more than anything, to stop her pain, to lift the silver that covered her whole head. But I couldn't lift my arms away from my middle, where my blood was soaking my hands, making them feel warmer than the rest of my body.

Slowly everything was starting to feel warm again… so warm and so comfortable. Like being in bed under the covers in the winter… I drifted off to sleep. Except it wasn't sleep. I could feel my mind raging against my death, just as surely as my body gave in to it. I was so mad by what had been done to me. I wanted Eric to rip the man to pieces on my behalf. I didn't care if the man died. I wanted revenge. Why did everyone end up hurting me? How had I become the target of so much hate? I was sick of it! I wanted to hurt those that had hurt me. I wanted to hurt those that had hurt others. I wanted to live to claim my revenge!

Eventually the darkness took over and my mind stilled. I knew I was dead. It was strange. I waited for something, somebody, to come. I didn't worry anymore. I didn't rage anymore. I was just waiting. There was nothing before, nothing after. The present was dark, warm, soothing. Maybe this was what it felt like to not exist anymore. Maybe the many religions were wrong and there was nothing after. Nothing before and nothing after. We are just dots of light in each other's lives until we are no more. Like the flame of a candle.

I wanted to ache at this realization, but all I felt was peace. Death was peace. That was unexpected and welcomed. All my sins were forgiven and I was at peace. I thought I saw a faint light, like they say you're supposed to see, but it didn't get closer and eventually it faded. I couldn't remember if I was supposed to miss someone, or if someone was supposed to come for me. I was nothing, an essence in the ether. I was someone else's thought, something fleeting and insubstantial.

Time had no meaning. There was no beginning and no end. Maybe the darkness was God. That would make sense. All was nothing wrapped in everything. I actually started to make sense of it, finding myself thinking in loops until one actual thought entered my mind.

God must have put the thought in my head, knowing I'd been trying to think real hard. I could see a face. I couldn't focus on it or I would lose it again. I had to pretend to think of something else and then the face would appear again. But what to think about, if the face was my only thought? I catalogued what I could see: long blond hair, angular lines. It was a man. Maybe it was the face of the angel that was supposed to come get me.

The first time I heard something it sounded like crying. As soon as I heard it, something jolted inside me. I could feel again. It wasn't something I could feel with my hands. I couldn't reach out and touch this pain.

I remembered pain. Pain had been a constant in life. Why was I feeling it in death?

The man's face came into view, this time I could see it better. He was beautiful, an angel for sure. His blue eyes were rimmed with red and his blond hair was dirty. I wanted to touch him, to tell this angel that all would be well. Why wasn't he as peaceful as me? Didn't he belong here with me? Was his pain my pain too?

My angel kissed me over and over, on my cheeks and on my lips. He spoke in a language I'd never heard before, but I knew he wanted me to open my eyes.

"My eyes are open," I said. I could hear myself talking in my head, but no sound came from my mouth. Flashes of light and sound interfered with my explanation. I was trying to tell him that in the nothing there was no sound, therefore I couldn't speak. Surely he would understand.

"Sookie, please, please my love," I heard my angel say. Something inside me told me this man loved me more than his simple words could convey. God really had brought me to heaven, where all was love and warmth.

"Wake up, Sookie," I heard another voice say, this time a woman's.

Something inside me gave under the command and the faint light crashed into my eyes like halogen lamps on a football field. There was nothing to see past the white, and it started hurting my eyes. I blinked against it and heard the rustle of cloth nearby. Two warm hands took my face. I couldn't see but I could feel those same hands moving to my back, lifting my body, embracing me and holding me tight against another body. It was almost as good as being in the nothing.

"Sookie, Sookie, my Sookie." I heard the voice and recognized it. My angel, my angel in distress. He needed comforting. I brought my arms up, but they felt heavy and numb. I tried my best. My angel needed me. He was shaking.

"Why are you crying?" I managed to say, and noticed that my voice actually made a sound. It didn't sound like my voice at all, though. It sounded raw from disuse.

"I'm so happy, Sookie. You came back to me. I thought I'd lost you forever," he said, still shaking, shaking more. His pain was my own. I knew this now.

I knew he was mine. I knew his name was Eric. I knew… I knew…

My mind was hit by a sudden rush of memories at the same time that my other senses woke up. I closed my eyes and stiffened, expecting physical pain, but it never came. I took an experimental breath, letting Eric's familiar scent wash over me, along with the smell of his blood, my blood, a third kind of blood, the smell of the earth, the distinctive smell of Eric's house, a sweet scent coming from me… it was easy to tell them apart. It felt strange that breathing didn't meet any kind of need. I didn't have to do it, and my body didn't do it for me either.

I pulled away from Eric and opened my eyes. Even dirty as he was, he'd never looked more beautiful. His hair shone yellow in the light of the bedroom. His eyes were so blue it hurt to look at them. His skin wasn't flawless. For once I could see the scars that time and magic had slowly eroded.

I looked down at my hands. They were dirty, like I'd been gardening. I could see every freckle and damage from the sun…

The realization was sinking in slowly. I was not human. Not anymore. I had truly been dead while I was in the nothing, and now I belonged to a different species. I also knew I didn't belong to Eric, not entirely. My maker was beside me in an instant. She felt me like I felt her.

"Sookie? Are you okay with this?" was the first thing Pam said. She caressed my hair slowly. I'd never known her to be so loving, but I could feel her inside me too. She was full of unconditional love. For me. She was my family now.

"Did you find my brother?" I asked without answering Pam's question. There were more important things than me at the moment.

"Yes, we did. He's back at the hospital and they're taking very good care of him," Pam answered. She fixed me with her gaze to make sure I would understand what she was going to say next. "Before you see him, you will need to feed. Please go shower and get dressed."

The notion of feeding made my new fangs slide down slowly. They felt like a natural part of me, not exactly what I was expecting.

"You're beautiful when you're thirsty," Eric said beside me. I looked at him, feeling his need tug at me. We were still connected by blood, but I could actually feel what he was feeling, just as I could feel Pam. His mind was still closed to me, but I knew that after mourning me for three days, he was happy, horny, thirsty, loving, lustful… I smiled in spite of this turn of events.

"Will you be okay with Eric?" Pam asked. She felt the need to ask, to make me understand that I was welcomed beside her if I didn't want to stay with Eric. She was scared that I would hate her for turning me. I just didn't have it in me to hate her. I felt stronger than I had since I'd been put in prison. My mind felt sharp, not mired inside that horrible sadness that had stalked me for so long. I had never contemplated becoming a vampire, thinking that it would feel alien and strange to want so much blood. Instead it felt natural, as natural as craving food when I was human. Why had I thought that I would still think like a human while being a vampire? I looked at Eric and he was so happy. His happiness was spreading all through me.

"I'll be okay," I said shyly. I wasn't sure what to call Pam now. Was she my mistress? I'd heard her call Eric master before.

I had no more time to ponder. Eric wasted no time and lifted me off the bed. We were in his bedroom. I wasn't sure why we were all so dirty if we were all inside the house and in his bedroom, no less.

Eric deposited me on the floor of the bathroom and ran to turn on the shower. When he returned he took it upon himself to strip what was left of my clothes, smiling the whole time. His fangs never retracted as he took off his own clothes.

I had to stop him for a moment. I could still feel an alien item inside my body. "Can you turn around for a sec?" I asked.

He lost his smile and folded his arms over his chest. "No," he said.

I frowned in a worried way. This was embarrassing. It didn't matter that he'd seen every inch of me. I made a face and turned away from him instead. Quick as a wink he turned me back. I tsk'd and simply reached inside me to pull out the tampon casing containing the herbs that Amelia had given me for my failed "mission." I wrapped it in toilet paper, both of them remnants of my old life. I would never have another period, nor would I ever have to use the bathroom. I wondered what happened to the stuff that had already been in my bladder and my gut. That explained my lack of pants and underwear, I suppose. I felt very self-conscious very suddenly. Either Pam or Eric had cleaned my body of its last… movements.

Eric wrapped his hands over my upper arms and guided me with the utmost care inside the large shower, making sure the water hit me first. My new body loved the water, apparently, and I moaned as it massaged my skin, my scalp, ran down my sensitized body, between my toes, under my breasts. I could feel everything!

I leaned against Eric as he washed and rinsed my hair with gentle hands. His body didn't feel cool to my touch anymore. It felt warm and inviting. I rubbed my lower back over his hardness, wanting him inside me, needing him in the most basic way. Immediately my need matched his, a sweet throbbing spreading between my legs. My skin tingled wherever it met his. My nipples ached to be touched. I took his hands and put them on my breasts.

Eric grunted, his need pushing and pulling at my sanity. I kept rubbing against his erection while he pinched and rolled my nipples between his fingers. I didn't realize just how fast I could move and how strong I truly was until I found I'd climbed his body, holding onto him by the neck and with my legs, letting him guide his length inside me. He moved me on him, faster and harder than ever. He looked wild with desire, pounding into me, grinding into my pelvis, sending tremors of pleasure up my body. I growled for the first time in my life, and Eric's pupils dilated even more when he heard me.

I pulled on Eric's hair to move his head and expose his neck to me. I knew where I wanted to bite. I licked the spot and sucked, tasting his blood as it colored the underside of his skin. It only fed my frenzy.

"Do it, Sookie. Bite me, please," he begged, his voice lost within a growl. The thought of taking my first bloody meal from Eric's neck was unbelievably appetizing. The memory of how he tasted spurred me on.

I thought it would be hard, but his skin gave under my fangs easily. I pulled away to admire my work, licking my fangs, savoring his blood, watching as the wounds closed. The taste was better than I remembered and it made me thirsty for more. Eric trembled beneath me, watching me through eyes filled with longing.

"Please, Sookie, please," he begged again, stretching his neck even more, giving me even more access, still thrusting himself inside me. This time I bit and sucked on the wounds, feeling as his blood made me feel full, whole. I groaned when it hit my empty stomach, the sweetness filling me. Drinking Eric's blood made the pleasure that more intense, so much so that the orgasm that followed started in my upper abdomen around my stomach, spread to the lower half of my body, and then exploded through every part of me. My cries were echoed by Eric as he had his own release, burying his length inside me for the last shivers of pleasure.

I crushed my bloody mouth on his lips, kissing him with everything I had inside me. I climbed down from his body slowly, never letting go of our kiss. I wanted to make love again, but I knew he was still dirty. We had all night. We had an eternity. I pulled away from our kiss, letting his happiness and love fill me just as his blood had.

"Pam will be mad at me for taking so long," I mumbled and started soaping his body, moving so that he was under the water. Eric started washing his own hair.

"No she will not. She is happy. Can't you feel her?" he asked, scrubbing his yellow hair that had been matted with blood and dirt. I would have to ask how come we were so dirty.

"I can feel her but it's more muted. I feel you stronger, but it's different than before. I don't have to guess how you feel. I don't see your feelings as colors anymore," I said. That was the most I had spoken. My voice sounded different to my ears, richer somehow. So did Eric's for that matter. I had my hearing focused on the sounds we were making, but I could sort of switch my hearing to hear that Pam was in the shower as well. The three of us were alone in the house. I wondered where Amelia was.

"Can you read my mind?" Eric asked, bringing my wandering mind back.

"No. I wonder if you can read mine like you used to." I dropped my mental shields. I could still feel his void and Pam's, but I noticed that putting my shields up was easier than ever. It was actually easier to keep them up than to consciously let them drop.

He shook his head. I became mesmerized as the shampoo ran down his body, the tiny bubbles shimmering and popping, getting caught on the soft downy hair of his chest and the dark blond curls farther down. I wasn't sure if my lust was due to the fact that I was now a vampire or if it was being fueled by my love for Eric. I didn't try to curb it, reaching for his hips and running my fingers over the diagonal lines of his body, cupping him, sliding my soapy hands over his soft skin.

Eric pinned me against the cold tile, holding my hands up above my head and moving his body on mine, searching, seeking entrance again. His blue eyes were intense as they roamed over my body. He'd never looked at me that way, with so much raw desire and want.

"I need you, Sookie," he grunted and turned me around, spreading my legs with one of his. I arched my back in anticipation and he entered me slowly, holding back. He pumped at a languid pace, taking his time. When we came this second time it felt sublime. He trailed soft kisses over my shoulders and on my back, cherishing me.

"Pam will not be mad at you. She will be mad at me for keeping you. You do need to feed," Eric said turning me around and shutting off the water.

"I already fed from you," I said, not quite seeing the logic in my feeding again.

"You are only an hour old, my darling. You have only been around Pam and I, and our blood doesn't call to you to feed. You may not be feeling the hunger yet, but you will. We will teach you to feed."

"What if I want to have sex with my donor?" I asked, not liking that idea at all. Weird. I didn't mind drinking blood, but the thought of having sex with a stranger was not appealing. I was okay with the violence but not with the intimacy.

"You might. But you and I are bonded. We desire only each other," Eric answered, showing me his desire once more. I was ready for him again, I noticed.

"Will this ever stop? I feel like I want nothing more than to make love to you all night." I secured the towel around me but let my hands roam his naked chest.

"All your hungers are intensified," he said, undoing my towel and cupping my center. "This is the only one I can satisfy for you." Eric bent over me and kissed me, masterfully maneuvering around my fangs.

"Come on you two! Sookie needs to feed," we heard Pam say from outside Eric's bedroom.

Even though Eric was holding me captive, my maker's call made me try to move. I froze in place when one of Eric's fingers parted me and found its way inside me. He kept kissing and playing with me until I was writhing and holding on to his waist. I had another powerful orgasm in no time, and felt like returning the favor… though I wasn't sure how. I couldn't take his length inside my mouth if my fangs weren't retracting as they should. Eric saw me debating my choices and brought my face up with soft fingers under my chin. "Later," he said.

Eric lent me his brush so I could make my hair look halfway decent again. I looked wonderful. My gray-blue eyes sparkled, I could feel my hair was thicker, and my skin had retained some of its tan. It would fade eventually, but I knew it wouldn't be for many years. I leaned closer to the mirror to inspect my teeth. I tried to make my fangs come out, and they did so but very slowly and not all the way. I heard Eric chuckle behind me as he let his down quickly, and retracted them just as fast.

"Show off," I mumbled and turned to leave.

Pam was entering the bedroom as we exited the bathroom. She had clothes for me. For once I wasn't bashful about sharing my naked body. Maybe it was because Pam was like my parent, albeit in a very strange way.

"You are mine to clothe, keep that in mind," she said, handing me what she had brought. It was something she'd bought for me when she'd gone shopping with Amelia. I hadn't worn it yet: it was a pair of nice gray trousers, a light blue button down shirt, and a pair of black patent leather pumps. She'd brought the underwear that she thought would go with the ensemble. I was in no position to argue with her choices, and I had to admit that once everything was put together I looked better than good. The blue shirt, for one, made my eyes look darker.

"You are the sheriff's blood bonded and you have to dress the part. He can wear whatever he pleases, you cannot," Pam said, sounding every bit like a mother.

"Yes, ma'am," I said and bowed my head. I don't know what made me do it. It just seemed like the right response. Strange.

"Oh, please! You don't have to do that! Call me Pam. We're still going shopping soon. There is very little in your closet that is appropriate for your new role."

Eric chuckled. He was in an extremely good mood. Meanwhile I was wondering about this new role she was talking about. But first things first.

"Why were we all dirty when I woke up? Did we roll around on the ground or something? I can't remember anything," I mumbled the last part, because I was starting to forget my time when I was dead. It seemed like it had been a dream.

"You and I spent your first three nights underground," Pam explained. "I wanted to make sure that the magic would take hold, and that is the surest way to make a vampire."

"Tonight I dug you both up and brought you here at first dark," Eric continued the story. "I couldn't bear to spend another minute without either of you. I…" he stopped suddenly and turned away. His pain hit me like a wrecking ball and I was by his side instantly. He turned to me, his eyes rimmed with red again. "You would hate me if you knew the things I did to avenge your death."

"I can't hate you," I said, sure of my statement, just like I couldn't hate Pam for turning me. It was all they knew. They didn't know how else to make it better. It's not like Pam decided to drain me and turn me on a whim. I remembered her giving me blood even before she took the silver net off her head. It had been a desperate attempt to save my life.

"Come, Sookie. You have to feed while the night is still young," Pam said, holding her hand out. I took Eric's hand and pulled him, then I took Pam's hand and she guided us out.

The ride to Barksdale gave me time to think and ask more questions. "Who else knows that I'm a vampire?"

"Bill, Indira, Thalia, and Godric know we buried you. They are waiting for word on whether you were able to rise. Everybody else thinks you are dead," Eric said. I could feel how much those last few words pained him.

"Even my brother?" I asked, thinking that he'd already been through so much, now this. I wondered how he would take the news that I wasn't dead.

"Jason and Amelia refused to believe that you were gone," Pam answered. "Amelia, in particular, has not left Jason's side. Since she hasn't heard from me, she's come up with her own theory."

"Which happens to be right," I said.

"Correct," Pam agreed.

"When can I see them?"

"We can go tonight as soon as you've fed properly. I will teach you. You will need to feed from several donors tonight, so that no one person suffers the brunt of your inexperience. Eventually, when you're not as thirsty, you will learn to take just enough," Pam said with the authority of being my maker.

"Why can't I drink True Blood or something?"

"Because one so young will not thrive on substitutes. The synthetic blood is good enough for us to curb Eric's and my appetites because our appetites are easily controlled due to our age. Eventually you will have control over yours as well."

"You were born during a good time, Sookie," Eric mused from the driver's seat of Pam's car. "We don't have to take you away from your family and friends like I had to do to Pam."

"So… who's going to donate blood? I assume they're willing…" my voice drifted.

"Of course, Sookie. We have plenty of willing donors at the base. Remember that our bites are extremely pleasurable," Pam purred from the passenger seat. I could feel her hunger spark my own. It wasn't like my stomach would start rumbling, but it was close. I felt a familiar pang of hunger. That part hadn't changed at all.

We were met by many vampires right after we parked. Evidently there's no way to keep secrets within the vampire community. They had all been waiting to hear news about me. I got many compliments, and if I could have flushed I know I would have.

I perceived a delicious smell coming from nearby, and my instincts told me that I was catching the scent of a human. I searched with my gaze and I saw him. He'd been curious at all the commotion that my arrival generated, and was standing just outside the doors of the security building where Eric had made his office.

"Get him out of there unless he would like to become an unwilling donor," I heard Eric say to someone.

A vampire approached the human and spoke to him briefly. The man smiled and looked in my direction. I couldn't help but smile too. I felt like I was flirting, but I knew that I was luring him. There's a difference. I wanted him as food.

"I suppose you have your first willing donor, my love," Eric said in my ear. My brain registered the new term of endearment and the feelings that went along with it. That talk would have to wait until later, because I was being swiftly led to Pam's office, with my meal leading the way.

Inside Pam's office I found the man standing and smiling at me openly. I heard the door close and felt the presence of my maker, but not Eric's. I guessed that was for the best.

"Sit, and she will sit on your lap," Pam said to the man. It was also a direction for me.

The man smelled nice, of his blood layered with soap and his own manly scent. I debated whether or not to read his mind then wondered if all humans smelled good to me, but didn't think about it too long. I was too hungry to experiment with my telepathy so I sat on his lap, eyeing the spot on his neck that I wanted to bite. This would be easier than I thought. The man caressed my back and upper thigh, holding me close. He was getting turned on, but I just wanted blood. I held his face at the right angle, and licked the spot that I wanted on his neck, just like I'd done to Eric. It felt right. I sank my fangs slowly, making sure to only make the two small holes. I sucked, and the feeling of his blood inside me undid what little self-possession I still had. It tasted good! I took mouthful after mouthful until my maker made me stop with a silent command.

"You may not suck any more blood, but lick his wounds to close them," Pam said. She was very close, ready to stop me from sucking by using force if need be. I did as I was told and thanked my donor. The look on his face was blissful.

"You did exceedingly well, but took more than you should have. He will be alright because he is a big man, but you have to be careful with smaller people," Pam said, wiping my mouth with a handkerchief. I felt all of four years old. "Would you like to try another?"

"Yes!" I said without missing a beat. I fed from four donors, all of them bigger men than average, picked especially for me. When they brought me the fifth donor I was able to say no, and I actually felt uncomfortably full.

Pam and I made our way to Eric's office where he was dealing with issues regarding his fiefdom. From the sound of it he was trying to snuff out the Fellowship methodically, destroying places where they were known to gather, spreading rumors on the news about their abhorrent actions (many of them were true, others sounded true enough), and trying his best to completely obliterate the organization.

Bill was in Eric's office, and he beamed at me when he saw me. Without at word he walked to me and hugged me. I hugged him back. My first vampire friend. He'd probably felt horrible while he thought that I might have died. He pulled away and held me at arms' length, inspecting me.

"You look great, Sookie," Bill said and turned his gaze to Pam. "You did well; she looks as beautiful as ever."

Pam nodded courteously, barely able to contain her smile. She was the new parent and I was her newborn. I'd just have to get used to it.

"We are going to visit her brother now, Bill. Can you take care of the news reports?" Eric said, handing Bill a stack of papers and standing next to me and Pam.

"Yes, Sheriff. My pleasure," Bill said, and I could hear the malice in his voice. Eric was taking his revenge on the Fellowship to a whole new level, and Bill was all for it.

"Are you ready?" Pam asked me, putting her arm over my shoulder as we walked back to her car.

"No, not really, but Jason needs to know as soon as possible. This isn't something I can tell him over the phone, and I hope Amelia is with him so I can tell them both at the same time," I said.

We got in the car and drove off. I was apprehensive during the whole drive and rehearsed what I would say to my brother and to my best friend over and over. I was okay with my transformation, for sure. But what if it had been Amelia that had been turned? What would have been my reaction? The same as mine when I found out my brother was a shifter? Would their unconditional love for me cover this too? I didn't know, and I was having a hard time guessing.

**TBC**


	34. You're So Cold

**A/N: **I'm really truly touched by your responses to chapter 33. I know vamp-Sookie doesn't sit well with many, and I fretted and agonized during the last two chapters thinking I would be hanged in effigy for having Pam turn Sookie, and having Sookie be okay with it… even liking it. I fretted for nothing. As usual my smart readers came through and y'all gave me the most wonderful reviews. Thank you so much!

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**YOU'RE SO COLD**

When we arrived at the hospital, Eric did me the favor of letting me crush his hand in mine. I needed the support. I didn't realize that I could hold his hand hard enough to hurt him. He didn't pull away, he just hissed.

"I'm so sorry," I said, releasing him. He flexed his fingers grimacing, but then the frown was replaced with a smile that told me all was well. He put his arm around my shoulder and brought me in for an unexpected half hug, kissing the top of my head.

"You're strong, dear one," he said and we started walking again, going through the doors to the main lobby. It wasn't visiting hours, but Eric glamoured the clerk into giving us the passes so we could go see Jason.

"I think I should teach her how to wield swords," Pam mused as we made our way to the bank of elevators. She pressed a button with a dainty finger and turned to me while we waited. "Would you like that, Sookie? You can help us next time we have to go on a raid."

The thought of a raid at once scared and exhilarated me. For one, I didn't know how to fight. But for another, I wanted to fight beside Eric and Pam. I really did. The thought of it made me salivate. "I'm afraid I'll be clumsy and get one of you hurt," I finally confessed. No use going into a fight that I couldn't get out of.

Both Eric and Pam turned to look at me in wonder and shock, respectively. "That's your only fear?" Pam asked.

"Well, yeah! What if I'm not good enough and I get in trouble, and one of you get hurt trying to get me out of trouble? I don't know how to fight. I think the last fight I was in was in second grade!"

Pam smirked and shot a quick glance at Eric before turning her eyes back to me. "I was a lady of society. I was refined, laced up in whalebone corsets and silk. Somebody else dressed me. Somebody else bathed me. Somebody else did my hair. If I can fight, you can fight." Pam was sure of her statement, but still saw my skepticism. "Alright, I'll train you starting tomorrow," she said as an elevator door opened.

Eric slipped an arm around my waist, holding me close and offering me the strength he knew I needed. I hugged him back, resting my head on his shoulder. When he spoke I could hear his voice resonate within his chest. "If Jason is mad at anybody it will be at me."

"Or at me," Pam said and shrugged. "The alternative was you being dead."

There was a moment of silence during which I thought about the very little bit that I remembered about being in the nothing of death. I wasn't scared of death anymore, but I didn't want to force my death upon those who loved me. "Thank you, Pam," I said in a quiet voice, shy.

She turned to me and her expression softened. Pam could seem stoic and emotionless, but inside I could feel everything that she felt. She truly did love me, like I loved her. And here I'd always thought that vampires never felt, because that's what Eric had said, more or less. But we do feel, and we share our feelings with others, all the time.

At that moment all I wanted was Pam's comfort. I threw my arms around her and she held me tight, caressing my hair. "I know this is a lot. Everything has happened so fast for you, my child," Pam murmured. "I have you. I have you," she repeated. I don't know what made her say it, but that was exactly what I'd needed to hear.

The elevator door opened and we made our way to Jason's room. Every scent from every human and thing was attacking me, so I decided not to breathe unless absolutely necessary. I would need to fill my lungs to speak, though. Pam rubbed circles over my back while I tried not to crush Eric's hand again. I don't know what made me so nervous. Maybe it was all of it. It felt extremely weird not to have my heart hammering in my ears.

There was a very large man standing in front of Jason's door. I hesitated until Eric said he was a Were placed there for Jason's safety. I smiled at the imposing man, who nodded his head at Eric. Obviously they knew each other. I knocked quietly on the door to Jason's room and opened the door. I could hear two people breathing deeply, and when the door opened fully I could see that both Jason and Amelia were there, sleeping. Amelia was sleeping on the same spot I had occupied for so many nights only a few days ago.

I approached Jason slowly. He looked about the same as I had left him, which was a small comfort. I hadn't asked how they had found him or how he'd been treated, fearing the answer. And did it matter? As long as he was safe now, nothing mattered.

I bent over Jason and ran a finger over his forehead, moving his hair away. He woke up slowly, his eyes fluttering and his breath becoming less deep. I wasn't sure how much of a shock it would be to see me. Vampire or not, he'd been told I was dead, and now I was waking him up. In the disorientation of waking up he might have thought I was a dream.

"Sookie?" he asked, his voice just a whisper.

"Hi, Jason," I said, not knowing what else to say at that particular moment. I decided to take a peek into his brain. I found it snarly, like a shifter's, but I was getting most of his thoughts. I guessed the full moon was coming soon.

Jason was thinking that I looked good, then his brain started waking up slowly, remembering when Bill told him I was dead, and remembering when Amelia said I'd probably been turned. There was a lot of hope, hope that I would get to stay with them in whatever shape that would take, human or vampire, he didn't care. He couldn't bear losing another member of his family. It had been too much for him and they'd given him drugs for his anxiety, which he'd quickly burned off. I saw how his brain clouded over for a second while he made deductions and understood that he was truly seeing me, and I wasn't just another dream.

"You're here!" he said and tried to sit up. I lowered the railing next to him and sat on the edge of the bed, helping him by putting an arm behind him. He weighed nothing. I was afraid I would hurt him. As soon as he was sitting up he took my face in his hands. "You're so cold, but you're here. Amelia thought they might have turned you," Jason said and turned his head to Eric. "You said you would keep her safe with your life."

Eric wasn't going to respond to that. He already felt guilty enough and felt he'd done enough damage. He blamed himself for what had happened. Pam answered, though. She wasn't feeling guilty in the least. "I turned her, and I kept her safe with MY life." Pam walked closer and put a protective arm around my shoulders.

I decided it was time to diffuse the situation. "Everything went wrong. The Fellowship guy that was guarding me attacked Pam and then stabbed me. Pam had to act fast or I would be dead."

Jason closed his eyes, reeling back his anger and frustration. "Okay, it's done. There's no way to undo it and you're here, so I should be grateful," he said, mostly through gritted teeth.

"Sookie?" Amelia asked, rubbing the sleep off her eyes and getting up slowly. A slow smile began to grace her lips. She was broadcasting as loud as ever, feeling smug that she'd been right about my being turned, willing to overlook my change in favor of having me back. She thought the biggest change in me was how peaceful I looked, like the shadows from my recent past were not bothering me anymore. Amelia was partially right. It's not that I wasn't bothered by what had happened; it's that the events from the past two months didn't affect me as they used to. I was able to not think about them if I didn't want to, whereas before the memories would surge into my mind unannounced and hijack my emotions.

Amelia walked over to me, glancing at Pam, who still had her arm around me. Without thinking it for too long she threw herself at both of us and hugged us tight. I hadn't taken a breath yet but I would have to soon, and my curiosity got the better of me. I took a breath and Amelia's scent assaulted me, making me hunger for more blood. I wasn't completely out of control that I felt I had to bite her, but I couldn't say the same thing for my fangs. Jason gasped when he saw me, and when Amelia pulled away she did the same.

"I already ate," I said quickly.

"As in… you already had some True Blood or something?" Jason asked his eyes still trained on my fangs.

"Or something," Pam answered for me, knowing what my problem had been. "She's too young to drink blood substitutes. Sookie needs donors for now."

Amelia didn't say anything for a short while and then started nodding. "Okay, it's alright… Do you still have your telepathy?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Yes, and it works only on humans just like before," I said, trying to save as much air inside my lungs as I could. It would be something I'd have to get used to and perfect. I didn't want Pam and Eric to hide me until they thought I was under enough control over my new instincts. I wanted to still do things like I used to.

Since I'd been scanning the minds of those around me, finding it easy and comfortable for the first time ever, I was able to sense the new shifter brain that approached the room. The Were standing outside didn't see the shifter as a threat, but I did. I recognized that brain pattern immediately.

As soon as the door to Jason's room opened to admit the new shifter, I was standing in front of it, crouched and ready to attack. I felt my muscles coil in readiness and my body growl in a threatening way. I was waiting for my maker's command to stop and not attack, but it never came. So I remained in my defensive position, ready to strike any moment.

Sam never saw me coming.

"What are you doing here?" I spat. I was thinking of so many things at once that it takes longer to tell than it took to think. How did he get in during non-visiting hours? Why had he come to see Jason? Had he known I was a vampire? I was thinking that he stunk like wet dog and rancid blood. My hands flexed, itching to wrap themselves around his neck. Before I could follow through I felt Eric's arm snaking around my waist and pulling me back. I didn't resist, though I really wanted to. Something in the back of my head told me not to resist against Eric, who was a great deal stronger than me.

"Shh… He won't hurt you and he won't touch you. I will not allow it," Eric whispered in my ear. His touch relaxed me out of my crouch, but my warning growl persisted, as well as my elongated fangs. I had a sliver of rational thought left to think that I was not very good at hiding my anger.

"He's been visiting these past few nights, after hearing of your death," Amelia explained, beaming like an idiot. She'd told Sam that I'd been turned, and I was living proof that she'd been right. I wanted to yell at her to shut up when I decided that the problem of her mind was easily solved by simply shielding mine. So I did.

"I'm so sorry, Sookie," Sam said without moving, holding his hands up in surrender.

"About what?" Pam chimed in, feeling possessive and protective of me. "Please explain because there are so many things you could be sorry for, I'd hate to pick just one and ruin the surprise."

Sam's mouth flopped open. He closed it quickly and began again. "I'm sorry for what I did to you, Sookie," he specified. "I didn't realize I could hurt you. All I ever wanted was to keep you safe and I did a horrible job. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I just want you to know that I'm deeply sorry."

Could I find it in my heart to forgive him? Maybe, eventually. It should have been easy. I still couldn't remember the time I'd spent with the Weres… But I still couldn't forget what Eric had told me about it. I sank against Eric's body, feeling close to tired. Maybe it was mental.

"I have to take you home," Eric said, feeling my weariness. Pam must have felt it too. She was getting her keys out from her purse.

I took that as my cue to hug and kiss Jason and Amelia. "I'll come soon," I muttered, not really knowing what I was saying.

"As of tomorrow night I'll be at Calvin's for the change," Jason said.

"Oh!" I blinked. "So soon?" I'd lost so much time. I wasn't even sure what day it was.

I looked up at Eric who held out his hand. I took it and he pulled me to walk beside him. I decided that the night had turned out well, considering it was the first night of the rest of my life. My mind was full as we drove home. I was worried about my brother changing at the full moon with his body still not fully healed. I wondered about Pam and Amelia's relationship. Did they even have one? We were traveling back to Eric's house. Was this going to be my house, or would Pam want us to move to hers? I hoped they both understood that there was no way I could be without them both. The thought of being away from either of them it was excruciating.

"Sookie, speak. You seem to be very worried about something," Pam said.

"Are we going to live here or at your house?" I blurted out at her command.

She turned in the passenger seat so she could look at me. "I cannot take you away from your blood bonded, Sookie."

"Are you going to leave me?" I asked, just as scared of that too.

"No, I will not. I am your maker and you still have much to learn," she said and smiled. "Don't worry, Sookie. You're not alone anymore."

I nodded feeling calmer and thinking about other things, more pleasant things. I looked at the clock on the dashboard. It was nearly three in the morning, which meant I still had a few hours before going to sleep. I was able to think of several different things I could do to occupy my time, and all of them had to do with Eric. He must have felt me because he smiled at me in the rearview mirror.

When we got to the house Pam gave us wide berth. Eric and I raced up the steps vampire fast, but Eric was still much faster. He caught me inside his bedroom and swung me around. I laughed as my fangs lengthened, holding onto his neck and getting lost in his feelings.

"Don't keep her up all morning!" Pam called out walking to her room. Usually a statement like that would have mortified me, but now I took it as a challenge. I wanted to be up past the sunrise, and I wanted to make love to Eric for as long as I could. He closed the door on Pam with a resounding boom.

I giggled when Eric set me down and began to work on the buttons of my shirt, being careful not to rip them. Neither of us wanted to suffer the wrath of Pam by ripping the clothes she had so carefully selected for me. Eric's clothes, however, met another fate. I discovered how much fun it was to rip them, so I did.

"Just this once I won't be mad for this," Eric said holding up his tattered shirt. I only spared it a quick glance, preferring to look at his naked body above all else. I ran my hands over the smooth planes of his chest, circling around to his back and pulling him to me. His eyes told me he was as hungry for me as I was for him. I let my hands roam south to his gorgeous butt, squeezing it and making him jump. His length dug into my belly at the same time that he grabbed my butt.

I pushed him and he stumbled on the bed, landing flat on his back. I was surprised that I'd been able to curb this hunger long enough to feed and visit my brother. Eric centered himself on the bed and I climbed over his body, straddling his hips and pressing against him. A low feral growl escaped from me when I rubbed my sensitive skin over his thickness. His hands roamed over my thighs and hips, caressing my skin and sending sparks of need through me with his touch. He grabbed my waist, lifting me and centering his hips under me. I reached under me and grabbed him, making him hiss. I guided him and took him inside me, never taking my eyes off his.

My hands traveled from his hands at my waist, to his arms, caressing the soft blond hair that covered them. I set a slow pace, wanting to prolong this feeling. I took my time looking over every one of Eric's features, my beautiful man. Mine and mine alone. His hair shone yellow. His eyes shone blue and perfect. His skin was cream against my honey. I draped my body over his, skin to skin. He kissed me slowly, savoring my mouth, pricking his tongue on one of my fangs and letting me suck on the tiny puncture. Eric moaned his appreciation. Between his voice and his blood I was sent into frenzy. I straightened and began moving faster on him, holding on to his waist.

Eric stopped me, holding my hips against him and rolling us both so that he was on top of me. He took over our rhythm. He took over our kisses. He took over all my senses. I relished everything he gave me.

"More," I cried out, feeling that his slow moves were driving me wild with need. I'd never felt that before.

"More?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow before resuming his exploration of my neck.

I wasn't sure how to ask for what I wanted, so I grabbed him and pushed him into me, grinding my pelvis into his seeking release.

"You want it harder," he growled and slammed against me. I howled in pleasure and he repeated his hard thrusts over and over.

"Yessss!" I hissed. I started trembling deep inside, the telltale sign that heralded an orgasm. I took advantage of the way his face was bent over my neck and licked my preferred spot, the spot I wanted to bite. He was faster than me and bit first. It was better than I remembered. Wave after wave of exquisite pleasure rolled through my body, and I could still feel everything that Eric was doing to me, all at the same time.

He stopped feeding on my neck at the same time that his body was wracked by his own powerful orgasm. He let out a primal scream as he shook inside me, spilling everything he had to give me.

Eric collapsed, spent and happy. I took his weight just as happy as he was, but not nearly done. I wanted him again. This hunger was not going to be easy to satisfy. He rolled off me, leaving one leg over my hips, raising his body on an elbow so he could look at me. He ran a finger all over my body, sending brand new shivers of pleasure through me.

"You're so beautiful, my blood bonded," he said and bent over me to give me a lingering kiss. I remembered the way he'd called me "my love" earlier that night, and my heart swelled with the unspoken truth behind those two tiny words. I took a deep breath, letting his delicious scent fill me.

He reached for my hand and held it, resting both of ours between my breasts. He pulled away from our kiss, adopting a serious expression. I could feel his hesitation.

"I love you, Sookie," he said and I felt like I would start crying any second. "I almost lost you and I never told you. I never understood the difference between loving somebody and being in love. I'm in love with you. My world without you was bleak and full of nothing. I… I… don't know how else to tell you how much you mean to me, Sookie. I've never felt anything so deeply before." Eric caught the tear that threatened to stain my hair. "Don't cry. I love you, don't cry," he whispered, licking my face. My tears were pink, still mixed with my human tears.

I smiled, or tried. I wanted to let him know that I was happy. He'd finally said those three magical words that made my heart soar. I was having trouble trying to convey the same feelings, so I went with simple. "I love you too."

**TBC**

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**A/N: One more chapter and this story will be done. Thanks to all of you, my faithful readers, who have stuck until the end. It's been a wonderful and exciting ride. I never thought this story would get so much love from y'all, and I'm happy to say that it's earned me some of the smartest readers around.**

**Remember: If you like what I write, I will be continuing the story that won the "Dead After Dead Reckoning" Contest. It's called "Nothing's Gonna Change My World," and it picks up where Dead Reckoning left off. It even has its own banner already! Please go to my profile and click on the link so you can see it. BlackDeadOrchids made it and it is GORGEOUS!**


	35. What is Lost Can Never Be Saved

**A/N: **Here we are, last chapter… I finished up AAD, which was very sad, and now this one, which is very sad too… So I'm a sad girl all around. Hopefully y'all will continue reading my work and migrate over to "Nothing's," my new baby. I already love it very much, and I hope y'all do too.

The opinions expressed by a certain Viking vampire might or might not be shared by your humble author. I'm pushing the envelope now in keeping with the story. Please keep in mind that he's one pissed off vamp because he almost lost the love of his very long life and his mind is raging.

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**WHAT IS LOST CAN NEVER BE SAVED**

_For since they are at war with the human race, they fight in an orderly manner; for so they think to do greater harm to men, and so they do.  
__**Malleus Maleficarum**_

Sookie, Pam and I were crouched in the bushes to the north of the camp. Bill, Indira and Godric were hidden to the south. We needed to break up the clandestine meeting of humans that was currently taking place in the woods that bordered Louisiana and Texas, near Caddo Lake. They were part of the Fellowship of the Sun, and lately they had taken to going underground. Just like the vampire government had completely eradicated the Were camps and their abduction of humans, so we were slowly doing away with the Fellowship.

It wasn't enough to glamour these people into forgetting their hate. Their families would remember and remind them. The only way to do it was through fear. Several Fellowship meetings throughout the country had met with tragic ends. This meeting was within my jurisdiction to dispose of as I saw fit. The feeling of revenge was still alive and well within me, even after six months of having Sookie in my life.

"Does anyone here deserve mercy?" I asked Sookie in a soft whisper. Any human would have confused it with the sound of the leaves rustling in the trees.

Sookie had been scanning the brains of every human within the camp. She quickly described the humans that needed to be spared, the ones that were truly innocent and whose memories we _could_ erase. "She just came along because of her boyfriend, but she's feeling sick about what they're saying," Sookie whispered, pointing at a small brunette.

What the leader of this particular group was saying was to wait until day and enter Barksdale by means of a delivery. He'd come up with a way to sneak in a bomb that our dogs wouldn't detect. He didn't know that our dogs were just for show. They were handled by werewolves and shifters, and they were the ones who searched all the delivery trucks by scent and sight. They had averted several attempts already.

Not everybody was happy with our takeover.

This was Sookie's first raid of any kind. She said she could handle it now that she had trained with Pam in the art of wielding swords. She had chosen a beautiful basket-hilted broadsword, as she didn't like to switch hands half-way through a battle. It was only slightly shorter than my long sword and a pound or so lighter. Pam always preferred closer combat, and had brought her reproduction of a Viking sword. I had disapproved, preferring her to keep her distance. Nothing made her happier than to finish off the enemy at close quarters.

"They will have stakes," I had said to her.

"And silver," she added with a smirk. She was looking forward to the battle.

Sookie was nervous but determined. She had suffered at the hands of these fanatics. One of them had taken her mortal life, and though he no longer lived, she saw everyone in the same light. Hypocrites, all of them. They were willing to torture and kill others, never thinking that the same treatment would meet them, never imagining that they deserved the same.

"This is a modern day Crusade," the Fellowship man said in the middle of his circle of brain-washed sheep. "This is our Holy Land and we must take it back."

Sookie frowned and whispered, "And give it back to the native people, right?" Pam found that funny and stifled a laugh.

The Fellowship wanted the land back for themselves, even though it wasn't theirs to take or give. I'd seen the same conflict over and over. There was nothing to be done to resolve the everlasting issue other than be on the side of the winning party. Humans would always fight for the right to be wherever they pleased. Period. All the conflicts, all the wars, everything, everything boiled down to one thing: possession of the land. The Holy Land, the richest land, the most beautiful land, the highest land, the lowest land, the farthest land. Land.

The vampire race was trying to save the land and its inhabitants, but obviously that was a strange and unheard of concept. Only those who knew how much they needed the land understood: the shifters, the weres, the upstanding humans that didn't believe in the Fellowship's drivel, who lived off the land. Those groups saw us as a blessing, with our immediate integration of cleaner energies and solid plans to continue, and the sudden need for improved mass transportation inside the cities, where a lot of humans had migrated after the Were threat. That's not to mention the sudden need for the government's show of goodwill, which was accomplished by expanding basic social services such as healthcare and public works.

We waited and listened to the humans in that camp talk in endless circles about how this land belonged to them. The land's resources were theirs to protect. The land they were standing on had been won fair and square, which was complete nonsense. It was won with a lot of treachery and good old fashioned luck. They simply wanted to keep it, fearful of change, and fearful of whatever or whoever was different. Again, the same theme and topic that had instigated wars: the Moors had invaded the south of Spain; the Jews were trespassing in Europe; the Muslims had taken hold of the Holy Land; the never-ending cycle of taking land by force from those who "did not deserve it." I called bullshit, even though my own people had been guilty of the same behavior, myself especially.

The longer we waited the humans out, the more tired the humans would be, and our mission would have the better chance of being successful. So we continued listening to their words of hate and frustration, trying our best to keep our cools, since it would all end soon enough. I'd been teaching Sookie the art of patience, and just like she had been with swords, she was a quick study.

At close to one in the morning the leader finally tired of talking when he found many faces yawning back at him. It would be difficult to attack once they were inside their tents, so we acted swiftly. The humans did me the favor of extinguishing the fire themselves, and we took that as our cue to spread out and attack. There were about twenty armed humans, plus five that Sookie had said we needed to save, and six of us. This would take speed and skill more than strength.

We moved forward as one. Sookie moved fast collecting innocents and getting them away from the fight. The moment we were spotted, every human that wanted to fight produced either a stake or a chain made of silver. Some began to run away. They died first. Sookie joined the fight beside me. I had to trust that she knew what she was doing so that I could concentrate on my own job.

The scent of blood began to permeate the air and that was enough to unleash our baser instincts. I caught the silver chain that was about to land on my shoulder and pulled, swinging my sword and slicing through the body of its owner. The human's cries and screams filled the night air, echoing through the remote woods. I felt Sookie's determination waver and become solid once again. It could not have been easy to listen to their deaths inside her mind.

I was rushed by two people at once, one wrapping a chain around my shoulders, another coming at me with a stake. I smiled at the man. He was the leader of his group, and he was holding the stake high above his head. It amazed me that they thought it would be easy to drive a large stake through our clothing, through our skin and through our ribcage with enough force to reach our heart. The chain around me slacked and fell to the ground. I'd heard Sookie behind me. She'd taken care of one of my attackers. I would enjoy taking care of the other.

Pam's screams of joyous rage resonated through the small clearing. She had dispatched about three humans and was about to dispatch a fourth when Godric did it for her. She was very mad at him, but dared not voice her disappointment. I was smiling when Sookie's panic overrode all my other emotions. I turned immediately, searching for her, only to find one of the humans we were supposed to keep safe coming at me with a small sharp branch, using it as a stake. The man was large, and used all his strength to drive the stake into me.

"NO!" I heard Sookie bellow. I felt the stake pierce my thick wool jacket, my sweater, my skin, finding an opening between my ribs to lodge itself inside my chest. At the same time I saw the man being sliced clean across his abdomen. His death was immediate. Mine lingered.

Sookie was beside me and caught me as I fell to the ground. "You're okay, you're okay, honey look at me," she said, patting my face and moving it so I would obey her. "It's not in your heart, do you hear me? I'm gonna pull it out."

The pain was excruciating as she pulled out the branch out of my chest. I'd never been staked in any way, anywhere on my body. I didn't know it could produce so much fear and so much pain. Sookie moved me to hug me to her body. My mind was working but my body was not responding to her entreaties. She wanted me to drink from her. Finally she broke the skin on her wrist and put it on my lips.

"Drink now," she commanded. Her fear made me reclaim some of my failing motor skills, and I began to suck on her wrist, letting the sweet blood fill me and heal me. I had enough sense to stop sucking before I harmed her. She was still so very young and would need a lot to replenish what I took.

"I'm so sorry. I don't know why that man reacted that way," she was saying to either me or Pam, I wasn't sure. I closed my eyes to work through my pain alone, concentrating on closing my bonds with Sookie and Pam. "He didn't want anything to do with the Fellowship. I read it clearly."

"Perhaps he became scared and thought we would kill him too, so he decided to attack," Godric said. "I guess you killed him anyway."

"I didn't want to," Sookie said, her voice shaking. Besides being young she was still very human, still wrapped in emotions like guilt and frustration. As a vampire she would learn to let those emotions go after their initial emergence.

Pam and Sookie took me home so I could convalesce in comfort. Now I knew that a stake through any part of my body took longer to heal than any other wound, was extremely painful, and elicited a type of fear that was hard to comprehend. Sookie sat with me in the backseat of my new truck, holding me against her and caressing my hair.

I must have passed out or fallen asleep earlier than usual, because I woke up the next night at my usual time. Sookie was still asleep beside me. I looked down at myself. I was naked and clean. She had taken the time to make sure I would not wake up caked in blood and dirt. I ran my fingers over my chest. It was back to smooth.

I lay staring at the ceiling trying to figure out many things at once. What we were doing was unfair and against the old laws of the United States of America. The Constitution had been abolished and a state of martial law established for a few months until the new Constitution had been drafted and ratified. There was no Bill of Rights. The Federal laws governed the whole land equally, even as each state had its own king or queen. The whole system had been modeled after its former self, but there had been no elections, nor would there ever be any again. There was no need. The vampire race had taken over quickly and effectively in order to maintain the peace among the races. Now that it had been established, we would keep it forever.

Many countries shunned us, but not many could do so without significant repercussions. Be it trade, natural resources, or the exchange of information and ideas, the world still needed the United States. Our new country got the most cooperation from our neighbors to the north and south, fearing an influx of humans moving away and into those countries. There was some emigration of humans and immigration of other races, but not in the numbers that we had foreseen. Most of Europe accepted us, and some countries begrudgingly had to do so as part of the European Union. China completely cut their ties to us, but they were beginning to feel the economic hardship. It was amazing how that large shift opened new trade relations for our fledgling country. We did not feel the pinch as much as China did.

Nevertheless, those of us who held any kind of office were charged with keeping the peace and eradicating the radicals. As much as I disliked it, I could see the logic. We used fear as a means of deterrence. A few more raids and foiled attacks and the Fellowship of the Sun would disband or go truly underground. Either way, their threat to peace would be curbed.

Sookie stirred, the first signs that she was about to awake. I remembered that I had closed off the bonds with Pam and Sookie. I opened both and felt my child go from restless to calm knowing I was alright. Sookie opened her eyes and gave me a groggy smile.

"I'm hungry," she muttered. That was something I could easily remedy. In this new world we'd created for ourselves, blood was abundant and donors were willing.

"Word around the base is that you are very popular," I said to her, gathering her body in my arms and pulling her to rest on top of me. I was jealous about her taking blood from others, knowing what those people wanted from her. But she never gave her body to another.

I caressed her skin, feeling her love and lust, drowning in both. Her feelings were my drug of choice. Her body called to mine when she stretched and purred, kissing my chest where I'd gotten hurt the night before. "How are you feeling?" she asked, running her hands over the rest of my body.

"I'm feeling much better, my love. Thank you for taking care of me."

We made love slowly, taking our time. We were still very much in love. Sookie had moved into my bedroom. She had made my house her home. I fell in love with her every day, with the same smile that had captivated me from the first time I saw it in that picture. I still had the picture in my wallet.

"What are you doing with this?" she had asked me one night at the store. She had been looking through my wallet to pay for our groceries, which nowadays consisted of True Blood and toiletries.

I looked at her with a wide smile. She was trying to hide hers. "That picture made me fall in love with you."

"You didn't even know me then," she argued, tucking the picture back where she'd found it. She was letting me keep it.

"I knew you were brave and I knew you cared," I'd said.

The reason Sookie was so popular with the donors was her ability to make them feel at ease without glamouring them. She cared about her donors. She could read their minds to say the right things. She was gentle and grateful; in essence she was more human than vampire. She was still that sweet Southern Belle, the princess waiting at her window, the fairy dancing in my garden, my lover, my friend. In a world where everyone seemed selfish, Sookie's caring nature was a light in the dark.

I held her tighter and her body welcomed my embrace. "I love you Sookie," I said after making love, and I knew that I would give her whatever she asked of me. I knew we would never part.

**~The End~**


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